As U.S. lawmakers and stakeholders push back against a planned ban of intoxicating products made from hemp, which is set to go into effect by the end of the year, the drumbeats have begun.
Members of Congress began to express concern in mid-December about the unintended effects of the federal definition of hemp that was implicit in the U.S. funding bill, passed last year. And state regulators are reviewing how their legal frameworks will align with the provisions in the federal law – as industry stakeholders warn of collateral damage across the broader hemp cannabinoid sector.
The Senate The aforementioned The bill was a The introduction of Jan. 15 to delay the implementation of the new restrictions. The Hemp Planting Predictability Act, which is being introduced in the House of Representatives, would achieve the same result, making it law within three years, instead of November this year. Several states, meanwhile, are already positioning themselves for the blast radius through rules and channels that may keep parts of the market alive in-state, even if interstate commerce is kneecapped.
Whatever one’s feelings about the policy being floated, it is clear that the prohibition on hemp intoxicants is not a theoretical issue.
Hope it is permanent.
Who’s crying
The majority of public protests over these restrictions have come from CBD manufacturers who are worried that their products could be included in a crackdown along with delta-8 or other hemp intoxicants.
Ironically, many of these same companies supplied raw materials for unregulated and dangerous proliferation of intoxicating CBD-based hemp products. In the new legislation, the combined total THC in consumer goods is limited to a maximum of 0.4mg per container. It is crucial to use the word “combined”, as all cannabis, including low-THC and high-THC marijuana, contains THC in different forms.
Many of the full spectrum CBD products that are made today from hemp contain trace amounts THC and will not meet 0.4 mg if they aren’t reformulated.
Simply put, the regulations aimed at gummies sold at gas stations could disrupt wellness products in natural food and pharmacy stores. Some argue that a 0.4-milligram THC-per-container limit would effectively wipe out much of the existing hemp-derived cannabinoids market – which mainly consists of CBD formulations.
Risks on top of risks
It’s a double-edged sword when it comes to hemp cannabinoid products, as the CBD market has never really been regulated.
In this regard, the bills that were introduced over the past few weeks would also have no impact. By extending compliance dates with the hemp intoxication ban, they simply move things along. It doesn’t set up a coherent framework of regulation for hemp cannabinoids, and it does not protect the legitimate full spectrum CBD product. It does not tackle the irritating 0.4-milligram THC restriction and would, of course, not lift the prohibition.
The vacuum is a good example.
A vacuum of knowledge exists in the policy surrounding hemp-derived cannabis cannabinoids: legislators acknowledge the problem and the industry laments the results, but no framework has been developed for CBD and the other cannabinoids found in hemp.
Some of the producers who are producing these hemp-cannabinoids with high promise operate under strict internal control and discipline. Other producers are clearly not. The consumers must interpret laboratory reports with widely varying standards in a field where there have been numerous academic studies that show mislabeling, THC contents unexpected, and inconsistent product formulations. The fact that the CBD grey market has existed for almost a decade makes this situation even worse.
It is fair to say that producers have a right to criticize the federal governments for not setting clear CBD regulations. However, it’s disingenuous for the industry to be portrayed as a mere victim. Many greedy players chased intoxicants to make quick money, rather than establish legitimacy and discipline for the industry. They now protest the lawmakers’ response with a knife.
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While the industry has criticized the federal THC cap now that it is being floated, stakeholders in the CBD gray market have not offered much of an alternative standard over the past decade. In the past decade, policy responses were largely based on opposition and not a unified strategy.
Some people have suggested higher THC per serving thresholds. They often use figures such as 5 milligrams. However, these are mainly found in informal position papers and advocacy letters, and they lack a solid regulatory framework. This is the predictable result: legislators have an enforcement proposal and the industry itself has nothing comparable.
Are we serious?
Ironically, non-intoxicating hemp cannabinoids like CBD are some of the socially and commercially feasible applications that have the greatest potential for being widely accepted, trusted, and normalized. That potential, however, depends on the existence of an industry willing to behave like a serious industry — not a loose collection of opportunists constantly probing the outer edge of what they can get away with.
Once the hemp industry had grown to a large scale, it was impossible to control. However, it’s impossible to overlook that some of the actors now claiming harm were the ones who created the conditions for this reaction.
They used CBD credibility to defend the Delta-8. The word “hemp”, they used as a legal disguise. Years of fighting against standards that were meaningful. Now they’re shocked at the lawmakers who have no patience.
A new year, another uncertainty
Another year will pass with the uncertainty surrounding the term “hemp,” as December approaches. Only one positive thing can be said about the new ban: it could force the hemp industry to finally confront the issues that have been avoided by the sector for far too long.
It is almost certain that the government will intervene again, though it will be slowly and with collateral damage. The policy should be erroneous to protect the consumer.
Ultimately, the future of this sector rests on public trust—and that trust must be earned, not engineered around.