Jeff Garland, right, gives a tour of Papa G’s organic hemp farm in Crawford County, Indiana, on June 23, 2022. Jeff and his son started the farm in 2020. At left is Lee Schnell from the US Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the US Department of Agriculture. (NRCS photo by Brandon O’Connor)
WASHINGTON – Kentucky’s two U.S. senators discussed the future of the country’s hemp industry this week. One argued that a provision included in the package that would reopen the government would close a problematic loophole, and the other claimed that the language would “regulate the industry to death.”
Senator Mitch McConnell ultimately prevailed and was able to retain the section of the farm bill targeting hemp that Senator Rand Paul tried to remove during floor debate. Both are Republicans.
The budget proposal is accompanied by a stopgap bill that will end the government shutdown and is expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives as early as Wednesday. The hemp measure has raised alarms in agricultural states that benefit from a stalwart hemp growing industry.
Hemp plants contain 0.3% or less tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, while cannabis or marijuana plants have higher concentrations of this substance, giving users the “high or stoned” feeling.
A Summary of the bill Compiled by Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins’ staff, it says the novel language would prevent “the unregulated sale of hemp-based or hemp-derived intoxicating products, including Delta-8, sold online, in gas stations and corner stores, while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products.”
The US Food and Drug Administration has a warning page warning on its website that “Delta-8 THC products have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA for safe use in any context.”
Origin of Farm Bill
McConnell said he is targeting hemp because its uses have expanded beyond what was intended.
“I led the effort to legalize industrial hemp through the 2014 pilot program and the 2018 Farm Bill,” McConnell said. “Unfortunately, companies have exploited a loophole in the 2018 legislation by extracting legal amounts of THC from hemp and converting it into intoxicating substances, then marketing it to children in candy-like packaging and selling it in easily accessible locations such as gas stations and convenience stores across the country.”
McConnell said the novel provision, which won’t take effect until a year after the bill takes effect, would “keep these dangerous products out of the hands of children while preserving the hemp industry for farmers.”
Paul and Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley urged their colleagues to remove this McConnell provision from the larger spending package, but were unsuccessful.
“This is the most thoughtless and ignorant proposal to an industry that I have seen in a long time,” Paul said.
The novel language would change the definition of what makes a hemp plant legal, a move that Paul said would mean “every plant in the country must be destroyed.”
“The limit on THC per serving set in this bill would make any hemp product that contains more than four milligrams illegal,” Paul said. “That would be almost 100% of the existing market. This amounts to an effective ban because the limit is so low that the products intended to relieve pain or anxiety lose their effectiveness.”
State laws should be repealed
The legislation, Paul added, will negatively impact the nearly two dozen states that have set higher limits on hemp production.
“Currently, Maine limits THC to three milligrams per serving. That will be repealed. My home state limits THC in beverages to five milligrams; that will be repealed. Minnesota, Utah and Louisiana also have five milligrams per serving. Alabama and Georgia have 10 milligrams. Tennessee has 15 milligrams,” Paul said. “The bill before us invalidates all of these state laws.”
Merkley said the novel provision in the larger spending package would eliminate the hemp industry, which Congress took steps to create more than a decade ago.
“I support my other colleague from Kentucky who doesn’t want intoxicating products made from hemp,” Merkley said. “But the definition in this bill does much more than that and needs to be corrected. Therefore, it must be deleted for now.”
The Senate voted 76 to 24 To file or repeal Paul’s amendment after McConnell requested that it not be addressed directly.
The agriculture funding bill is one of three bills included for year-round government spending the emergency solution package That will end the government shutdown once the House approves the measure later this week and President Donald Trump signs the bill.
Trade group warns of hundreds of thousands of jobs affected
Brian Swensen, executive director of Hemp Industry & Farmers of America, wrote in a statement released last week that McConnell’s provision would have a devastating impact on the industry and its workers.
“Congress legalized hemp, Americans built an industry, and now Washington wants to pull the rug out from under the feet of hard-working farmers and small business owners. The industry wants a robust regulatory package that protects children, but instead Congress wants to impose industry-killing caps on cannabinoids. Congress is not listening to the industry they created – they are dismantling an industry with over 325,000 jobs and driving consumers into an unregulated, unsafe and tax-free black market.”
John and Kara Grady, owners of Slappyhappy Hemp Company, said during an interview with the Missouri Independent The novel language could hinder their business and potentially force them to close.
“You feel sick to your stomach all day,” Kara Grady said, “because you know your hard work is for nothing.”
Zack Kobrin, a Fort Lauderdale attorney at Saul Ewing Law Firm who works in the hemp and cannabis industry, said the Florida Phoenix that many in the industry “are surprised that it was such a sudden and sweeping move.”
“I think those who are cowboys are just going to make as much as they can until they can’t,” Kobrin said. “I think this will be a real blow to hemp operators who have tried to cooperate with regulators and play by the rules.”
