One of the main reasons MAG Industries is moving its hemp-related operations from Tyrone to West Virginia is a lack of state regulation, according to company President Grant Martin.

Along with several other states, West Virginia has enacted consumer safety rules for hemp-derived products, including age restrictions, lab testing and product registration, protecting not only consumers but “legitimate businesses like MAG” and their retailer customers from “irresponsible sellers,” Martin stated in an email to the Mirror Tuesday.

It’s unusual for a company to ask for additional rules, according to state Rep. Lou Schmitt, R-Altoona.

“People rarely come to me and ask for more regulation,” Schmitt said Wednesday. “Quite the opposite: In most cases, they want government out of the way.”

MAG tests its products and has been in compliance with a 0.3% limit on a certain type of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in its hemp-derived products, according to a local owner of a company that has bought Delta 8 products from MAG.

But after a recent state police raid on a Hollidaysburg shop whose customers reported adverse events, followed by state police tests that showed some Delta 8 products not made by MAG with twice the permitted THC concentration, some businesses stripped all Delta 8 products from their shelves, not wanting to get caught up in a raid.

Over the past year, MAG lobbied Pennsylvania lawmakers for the kind of regulation that is now in effect in West Virginia, but to no avail, according to Martin.

That has cost the Tyrone area about half of MAG’s operations, including 25 jobs, and any additional jobs that may come with expected expansion that would have happened here, but now will happen in West Virginia, according to Martin.

The raid wasn’t fair, according to Hollidaysburg shop owner Mike Deangelo, whose shop is gone and who is facing drug charges.

He relied on manufacturers who had labeled their products as conforming with the 0.3% threshold, Deangelo said.

Was he expected to install a chemistry lab in his small shop to test the concentration of all the products he buys? he asked rhetorically.

The issue goes beyond regulation.

Delta 8 products are flat-out illegal, according to a state police statement provided Tuesday in connection with the MAG transition and the Hollidaysburg raid.

That statement was accompanied by a supporting quote from a Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association warning from a year ago.

But the DAs Association warning acknowledged that state law allows THC concentrations up to 0.3% THC for hemp-derived products.

Enforcement actions like the Hollidaysburg raid are based on “a misinterpretation of Pennsylvania law,” Martin stated.

State Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, is planning to discuss the issues raised by Martin soon with an official of the Department of Agriculture, which has potential regulatory authority over hemp-derived products.

The issues are “not well spelled out” in Pennsylvania, Ward said.

“They’re very gray,” she said. “We need legislation to tighten this up.”

That includes ensuring that “everybody needs to be playing by the same rules,” she said.

The departure of half of MAG’s operations is “discouraging,” especially if the state has failed in its regulatory responsibility to help ensure against penalizing legitimate companies by allowing those that operate outside the law to flourish, said Blair Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Joe Hurd.

Legitimate operations suffer when other operations break protocol, said Tyrone Borough Manager Ardean Latchford, who is familiar with water systems.

Tyrone’s water system is burdened now with lead-safety rules, despite not having any lead detected for years, because of the famous “debacle” in Flint, Mich., caused by mismanagement several years ago, Latchford said.

It’s plausible that some Delta 8 manufacturers are incentivized to break the rules to create a stronger than allowable product, as those might attract people looking for a more powerful experience, Schmitt said.

MAG hasn’t given up on Pennsylvania altogether, according to Martin.

If the state “get(s) its priorities straight and helps its residents succeed, instead of big, out-of-state business, we will help pioneer this new industry,” he wrote.

“It (doesn’t) sound like the door was shut,” Hurd said. “There may be hope.”

Ward “appreciates and understands” the company’s decision to transition the hemp operations to West Virginia, she said. “I wish them well,” she stated.

MAG geared up quickly after starting in 2020, according to Paul Emigh, a neighbor to the facility on Lincoln Avenue.

“It boomed right away,” he said.

The cutbacks began a week ago, after news of the Hollidaysburg raid, said Emigh’s neighbor Braeton Miles, 18, who was working at the facility temporarily, before heading off to college.

In response to the raid on the Hollidaysburg shop, the company sent hemp-derived product to a warehouse in Florida, even as it went about readying a warehouse and production facilities in West Virginia, according to Miles.

Miles was bumped out of his job filling customer orders a week or so earlier than he planned to leave, he said.

He liked working there.

“People were nice,” he said. “It was not the hardest job.”

The pay was decent, too; he made $17 an hour, he said.

“It’s a shame to see people lose their jobs,” said Carrie Hamilton, who also lives near the facility.

MAG driver Justin McGuire is not losing his job, being senior among those in his position.

He too likes the work, which isn’t “back-breaking” — like warehouse jobs he’s held in the area with large firms.

“(They’re) good people,” he said.