The hemp industry is gearing up for a lobbying effort following a provision in the recent government funding package meant to stop the sale of intoxicating hemp products but could inadvertently destroy a legitimate $28 billion industry and kill 300,000 American jobs.
The provision in the bill bans hemp products like gummies, drinks, vapes, and topical pain relief applications that contain low doses of THC — the part of the cannabis plant that can create intoxication in users at higher levels.
Hemp was legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill. It “required the FDA to establish a regulatory framework for hemp products, but it never did, allowing intoxicating hemp products to be introduced in the marketplace without oversight or standardization,” the Hill reported.
The new ban tucked into the spending bill prohibits products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container and is aimed at stopping the sale of intoxicating products often sold in gas stations and convenience stores.
However, the trade group U.S. Hemp Roundtable estimates the move would wipe out 95 percent of CBD products used to treat pain and other health issues, shut down small businesses and farms nationwide, and cost states $1.5 billion in tax revenue.
According to the trade group’s statement:
Despite misleading claims this language protects non-intoxicating CBD products, the reality is that more than 90% of non-intoxicating hemp-derived products contain levels of THC that are greater than the proposed cap of .4 mg per container. As a result, seniors, veterans, and many other consumers who depend on hemp for their health and well-being would be violating federal law to purchase these products, disrupting their care and leaving them scrambling for potentially harmful alternatives.
In Texas, for example, voters overwhelmingly supported the sale of legal hemp-derived products when properly regulated, according to Breitbart News’s reporting of a statewide poll in July. In June, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) vetoed a THC ban bill that had passed the Texas Legislature.
While the spending bill was still in the Senate, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) unsuccessfully offered an amendment to remove the language, but the Senate voted overwhelmingly to table it. Paul warned on the Senate floor that the measure would “eradicate the hemp industry” and “couldn’t come at a worse time for America’s farmers.”
Supporters of the provision in the bill argued it was long overdue.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a senior member of the Senate Agriculture and Appropriations Committees, argued that companies have “exploited” that loophole by “taking legal amounts of THC from hemp and turning it into intoxicating substances,” ABC reported.
The National Association of Attorney’s General also sent a letter to Congress in late October, warning that the 2018 Farm Bill was “wrongly exploited by bad actors to sell recreational synthetic THC products across the country.”
Because the ban does not take affect for a year, the Hemp Roundtable announced its plans to push for a regulatory policy for hemp-derived products, “including milligram thresholds, labeling requirements, and a new chapter in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act explicitly giving the FDA authority over cannabinoid hemp products,” the Hill reported Thursday.
“We’re disappointed, but not defeated,” the group said in a statement. “Our new mission, friends: 365 days to regulate, NOT ban.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
