The spending package the U.S. Senate approved late Sunday to end the longest government shutdown in history includes a ban on the hemp-derived THC products that have proliferated since the 2018 Farm Bill.
And though Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is attempting to remove the language redefining hemp under federal law, President Donald Trump “supports” closing the loophole that’s been a thorn in the side of the regulated U.S. cannabis industry, NBC News reported.
The ongoing flurry of activity in Washington is the latest act in a long-running drama over the future of hemp-derived THC products in America.
Online and in stores, products containing intoxicating levels of THC – including so-called THCA flower, which critics contend is just marijuana claiming Farm Bill protections – are sold outside of regulated channels across the country.
Major mainstream retailers including Target and Circle K have begun carrying hemp-derived THC beverages even as prohibition-minded lawmakers – and lobbyists for state-regulated marijuana companies – claim they’re a public health threat.
Hemp THC ban highlights divide between cannabis, hemp industries
The ban, which major alcohol lobbies said Monday they support, is highlighting the divide in THC between hemp and regulated marijuana interests.
“We applaud lawmakers for taking this critical step to clarify Congress’ intent in the 2018 Farm Bill,” said Chris Lindsey, director of state advocacy and public policy at the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH).
“Willful misinterpretation of the Farm Bill led to the proliferation of unregulated synthetic THC products widely available for sale to minors.”
In a statement Monday, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable said the proposal would “wipe out 95%” of the $28.4 billion U.S. hemp industry.
“Our industry is being used as a pawn as leaders work to reopen the government,” said Jonathan Miller, the organization’s general counsel.
“Recriminalizing hemp will force American farms and businesses to close and disrupt the wellbeing of countless Americans who depend on hemp.”
How the new proposed hemp THC ban works
The spending package that eight Democratic senators supported late Sunday is not yet final.
But according to the Senate Appropriations committee, the current spending bill “prevents the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores, while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products.”
It does so by defining “hemp” as only “the plant Cannabis sativa… and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids… with a total tetrahydrocannabinols concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”
That would mean an end to the so-called THCA loophole that’s allowed merchants to sell marijuana flower online and in stores claiming that it meets the Farm Bill definition.
It also excludes from the definition of hemp “cannabinoids”:
- That are not capable of being naturally produced by the cannabis plant, which would include HHC
- That “were synthesized or manufactured outside the plant,” which would include THC-P
And it would also appear to ban most of the popular hemp-derived beverages sold at retailers and at bars and restaurants in some states.
The “final hemp-derived cannabinoid products” would be legal only if they had less than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container.
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President Trump backs hemp THC ban
As of Monday afternoon, Paul was pushing for a vote on a proposed amendment to remove the ban language.
But any Republicans supporting his effort would be defying Trump.
The president “supports the current language in the bill on hemp,” an unnamed White House official told NBC News.
And in a letter Monday obtained by MJBizDaily, representatives from major alcohol lobbies urged senators to thwart Paul’s efforts.
His “shortsighted actions could threaten the delicately balanced deal to reopen the federal government,” a Nov. 10 letter from the American Distilled Spirits Alliance, Distilled Spirits Council, Wine Institute, Beer Institute and Wine America reads.
Cannabis lobbies welcomed the development as “part of a long overdue cleanup to bring the law current with the regulations around intoxicating hemp,” said Trent Woloveck, the chief strategy officer at marijuana multistate operator Jushi Holdings.
“The regulated cannabis industry can now get back to normalizing cannabis without all the bad actors and criminals taking advantage of the Farm Bill loophole,” he added.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.
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