A U.S. Senate proposal to redefine hemp under federal law to exclude products with intoxicating levels of THC appears dead.
Language that would ban popular hemp-derived THC drinks, gummies and other products under federal law was removed from a spending bill Tuesday amid a standoff between Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, Politico reported.
McConnell is the former senate majority leader who signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law using a hemp pen.
Since then, McConnell has had buyer’s remorse.
Pressure to close hemp-derived THC loophole
He and other bipartisan lawmakers have bemoaned the “loophole” that many operators have used to rush cannabis products to the market, claiming they are federally compliant hemp.
In both houses of Congress, lawmakers have pushed language that would redefine hemp under federal law to exclude most products containing THC.
The version of the fiscal 2026 agriculture appropriations bill that a Senate committee approved 27-0 on July 10, created separate definitions for “industrial hemp” and “hemp-derived cannabinoid products.”
It also clarified that total cannabinoid content must account for tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, which would close the loophole some hemp operators have used to defend sales of THCA flower.
Operators would have one year to comply with the new rules and wind down sales of products with “quantifiable” amounts of THC.
Reprieve for hemp-derived THC, thanks to CBD?
Critics, including operators in a hemp sector active in Kentucky, said the upshot would be to wreck the U.S. hemp industry.
As Politico reported, Sen. John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, said Tuesday that the hemp language was removed after Paul threatened to block the bill.
In comments to Hemp Today, Paul noted that the bill as written would also prohibit CBD oil.
The ban language is still alive in a proposal in the House, championed by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican whose hostility to legal cannabis is well-known.
However, without Senate support, the 2018 Farm Bill protections are likely to stay as is.
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