New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 2 - AGRICULTURE › Chapter 25 - NEW JERSEY HEMP PROGRAM RULES › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 2:25-1.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Agent" means an employee or contractor of a hemp producer.
"Applicant" means a person, or for a business entity or IHE, any person authorized to act on behalf of the business entity or IHE, who applies to the Department to be a hemp producer in this State.
"Approved seed" means hemp seed that is approved by New Jersey or other states' departments of agriculture and labeled for cultivating hemp under the Federally defined THC level for hemp.
"Cannabis" means a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae of which Cannabis sativa is a species, and Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis are subspecies thereof. Cannabis refers to any form of the plant in which the delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration on a dry weight basis has not yet been determined.
"CBD" or "cannabidiol" is a phytocannabinoid found in cannabis, which does not produce psychoactive effects in users.
"Commercial sale" means the sale of a product in the stream of commerce at retail, at wholesale, or on the Internet.
"Controlled Substances Act" or "CSA" means 21 U.S.C. §§
										801. et seq.
"Conviction" means any plea of guilty or nolo contendere, or any finding of guilt, except when the finding of guilt is subsequently overturned on appeal, pardoned, or expunged. For purposes of this chapter, a conviction is expunged when the conviction is removed from the individual's criminal history record and there are no legal disabilities or restrictions associated with the expunged conviction, other than the fact that the conviction may be used for sentencing purposes for subsequent convictions. In addition, where an individual is allowed to withdraw an original plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty and the case is subsequently dismissed, the individual is no longer considered to have a conviction for the purposes of this chapter.
"Corrective action plan" means a plan established by the Department for a hemp producer to correct a negligent violation or non-compliance with the Program.
"Culpable mental state greater than negligence" means to act intentionally, knowingly, willfully, or recklessly.
"Cultivate" means to plant, water, grow, or harvest a plant or crop.
"Decarboxylated" means the completion of the chemical reaction that converts THC-acid (THC-A) into delta-9 THC, the intoxicating component of cannabis. The decarboxylated value is also calculated using a conversion formula that sums delta-9 THC and 87 and seven-tenths percent (.877) of THC-acid.
"Decarboxylation" means the removal or elimination of carboxyl group from a molecule or organic compound.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.
"Drug Enforcement Administration" or "DEA" means the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
"Dry weight basis" mean the ratio of the amount of moisture in a sample to the amount of dry solid in a sample. A basis for expressing the percentage of a chemical in a substance after removing the moisture from the substance. Percentage of THC on a dry weight basis means the percentage of THC, by weight, in a cannabis item (plant, extract, or other derivative), after excluding moisture from the item.
"Entity" means a corporation, joint stock company, association, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, irrevocable trust, estate, charitable organization, or other similar organization, including any such organization participating in the hemp production as a partner in a general partnership, a participant in a joint venture, or a participant in a similar organization.
"Farm Service Agency" or "FSA" is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture.
"Federally defined THC level for hemp" or "acceptable hemp THC level" means a postdecarboxylation delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis for hemp or in a hemp product, or any other limit established by Federal law, rules, or regulations. Hemp will satisfy the standard of "Federally defined THC level for hemp" or "acceptable hemp THC level" if laboratory testing confirms a result within a measurement of uncertainty that includes the THC concentration level of 0.3 percent. For example, if the reported total potential delta-9 THC content concentration in a sample is 0.35 percent, and the measurement of uncertainty is ± 0.099 percent, the hemp would be compliant, because 0.3 percent falls within the distribution range between.251 percent and.449 percent.
"Gas chromatography" or "GC" means a type of chromatography in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a mixture. GC relies on heat for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition.
"Geospatial location" means a location designated through a global system of navigational satellites used to determine ground position of a place or object.
"Grower" means any person who cultivates hemp.
"Growing area" means any outdoor or indoor area used for cultivation in a natural, rural, or non-densely populated suburban area that is a minimum of 1.0 contiguous acre (outdoor) or a minimum.25 acre (indoor) actively being used in hemp production. Indoor growing areas will not be allowed in residential structures, commercial storage units, or community gardens.
"Handle" means to possess or store a hemp plant on premises owned, operated, or controlled by a hemp producer for any period of time or in a vehicle for any period of time other than during the actual transport of the plant between premises owned, operated, or controlled by hemp producers or persons or entities authorized to produce hemp pursuant to 7 U.S.C. §§
										1639.o et seq., and any State law or rule adopted pursuant thereto. Examples of "handlers" include, but are not limited to, seed cleaners, analytical labs, traders, harvesting entities, brokers, and other service providers. "Handle" does not mean possession or storage of finished hemp products.
"Harvest" means the termination of the cultivation process, including taking cuttings, or the movement of hemp from a licensed growing area to another location or movement within a licensed growing area between indoor and outdoor planting areas.
"Hemp" means the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof, and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a post-decarboxylation delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent, or the current Federally acceptable hemp THC level, on a dry weight basis. Hemp and hemp-derived cannabinoids, including cannabidiol, shall be considered an agricultural commodity and not a controlled substance due to the presence of hemp or hemp-derived cannabinoids.
"Hemp extract" means the oil chemically extracted from hemp's aerial plant part, such as seeds, stalks, or flowers, using chemical processes, containing a natural blend of phytocannabinoids, and includes cannabidiol, or "CBD" oil.
"Hemp oil" means oil obtained by physically pressing hemp seeds with a 3:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids and does not include cannabidiol or CBD.
"Hemp producer" means a person or business entity authorized by the Department to cultivate, process, or handle hemp in the State.
"Hemp product" means a finished product with a post-decarboxylation delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent that is derived from or made by processing a hemp plant or plant part and prepared in a form available for commercial sale. The term includes cosmetics, personal care products, food intended for human or animal consumption, cloth, cordage, fiber, fuel, paint, paper, particleboard, plastics, and any product containing one or more hemp-derived cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol. Hemp products shall not be considered controlled substances due to the presence of hemp or hemp-derived cannabinoids. All synthetically derived tetrahydrocannabinols remain Schedule I Controlled Substances pursuant to U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency rules and are not allowable for production.
"High-performance liquid chromatography" or "HPLC" means a type of chromatography technique in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a mixture. HPLC relies on pumps to pass a pressurized liquid solvent containing the sample mixture through a column filled with a solid adsorbent material to separate and analyze compounds.
"Information sharing system" means the database that allows the USDA to share information collected under state, tribal, and USDA plans with Federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement.
"Institution of higher education" or "IHE" means the same as that term is defined at 20 U.S.C. §
										1001.
"Key participant" means a sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership, or a person with executive managerial control in a corporation. A person with executive managerial control includes persons, such as a chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. This definition does not include non-executive managers, such as farm, field, or shift managers.
"Law enforcement" means any Federal, State, or local agencies responsible for maintaining public order and enforcing the law.
"License" means written authorization by the Department for any person to grow, process, or handle hemp in the State.
"Licensed area" means a land area licensed by the Department on which a hemp producer plans to cultivate, process, or handle hemp. A licensed area may include, but is not limited to, growing areas or land and buildings that are not used for cultivation.
"Lot" means a contiguous area in a field, greenhouse, or indoor growing structure containing the same variety or strain of cannabis that was planted at the same time throughout the area.
"Marijuana" means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or resin. The term "marijuana" does not include hemp, as defined in section 297A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, and does not include the mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant that is incapable of germination (7 U.S.C. §
										1639.o). "Marijuana" means all cannabis that tests as having a concentration level of THC on a dry weight basis of higher than 0.3 percent.
"Measurement of uncertainty" or "MU" means the parameter, associated with the result of a measurement, that characterizes the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the particular quantity subject to measurement.
"Negligence" means failure to exercise the level of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in complying with this chapter.
"Person" means an individual, firm, corporation, company, limited liability company, society, association, business, or other entity.
"Phytocannabinoid" means the cannabinoid chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant, two of which are Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9 THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).
"Plantlets" means young or small hemp plants or propagules.
"Post-decarboxylation," in the context of testing methodologies for THC concentration levels in hemp, means a value determined after the process of decarboxylation that determines the total potential delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content derived from the sum of the THC and THC-A content and reported on a dry weight basis. The post-decarboxylation value of THC can be calculated by using a chromatograph technique using heat and gas chromatography, through which THC-A is converted from its acid form to its neutral form, THC. Thus, this test calculates the total potential THC in a given sample. The post-decarboxylation value of THC can also be calculated by using a high-performance liquid chromatograph technique, which keeps the THC-A intact, and requires a conversion calculation of the THC-A to calculate total THC in a given sample.
"Principal investigator" means the research scientist or other individual in charge of the research program for an IHE.
"Process" means to convert hemp into a hemp product.
"Processors" include, but are not limited to, entities acquiring raw hemp materials and processing them into products.
"Program" means the New Jersey Hemp Program, which is the regulatory authority within the Department responsible for administering hemp production pursuant to the New Jersey Hemp Farming Act, P.L. 2019, c. 238, as amended and supplemented, and the Federal Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, P.L. 115-334.
"Propagules" means any vegetative structure, typically a stem cutting, that can be detached from a hemp plant and used to propagate a new plant.
"Research" means cultivation of hemp by an IHE under the Program and administered by the Department for purposes of agricultural or academic research in the development of growing hemp.
"Reverse distributor" means a person who is registered with the DEA in accordance with 21 CFR 1317.15 to dispose of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.
"THC" means tetrahydrocannabinol, which is a psychoactive component in cannabis plants.
"Total potential delta-9 THC" means the total potential delta-9 THC concentration levels in hemp, determined after the process of decarboxylation. It is derived from the sum of the (delta-9 THC) + (THCA * 0.877) and reported on a dry weight basis.
"Transport" means the movement or shipment of hemp by a hemp producer, a person or entity authorized to produce hemp pursuant to 7 U.S.C. §§
										1639.o et seq., and any State law or rule adopted pursuant thereto, or a hemp producer's or authorized entity's third-party carrier or agent.
"Transport" shall not mean the movement or shipment of hemp products. "USDA" means the United States Department of Agriculture.
"Variety" means a group of plants or an individual plant that exhibits distinctive observable physical characteristic(s) or has a distinct genetic composition.
"Volunteer plants" means hemp plants that grow on their own by natural regeneration rather than being deliberately planted.