A GOP senator says he’s willing to hold up spending legislation to end the ongoing government shutdown if Congress attempts to move forward with a controversial plan to ban hemp products containing THC—though he’s warning there’s a “real danger” he won’t prevail. He argues it is therefore imperative that the hemp industry makes its voice heard in the Capitol Hill during the next few days.
At a virtual event hosted by Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA) on Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) gave a status update on efforts to keep the proposed hemp ban out of appropriations legislation that’s being negotiated by House and Senate lawmakers. The senator said that we are “in crunch time” in order to stop the ban from becoming law.
Paul, who said that he is “open” to any measures to break the deadlock without guarantees the hemp market will not be criminalized as per plans championed Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R.KY) or Rep. Andy Harris’ (R.MD), has said.
“I’ve also told them—and I think they believe me—that we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The hard way would be to refuse to consent.
He said, “We believe they should look at what is happening in the United States.”
It is still unclear whether the leadership of Congress or the other legislators negotiating the budget legislation will accept the plan rather than the ban.
Paul stated that “if they’re pressed for time they may give me a report which would be non-binding and then we could read and discuss it over the following years in order to figure out what was acceptable.” Paul said, “If they are pressed for time and want to speed up the process, they might give me what I ask, which is a report, non-binding, that we read, then discuss over several years, in order to find out what’s acceptable.”
He said that the proposal of the opposition would “set the THC level for hemp so low” that it is unlikely there will be any hemp-based products left to sell. According to the McConnell-Harris language, he also argued that hemp grown for industrial use could be caught in prohibition. Farmers would then have to “rehybridize” their plants to comply with the new standard.
Most hemp products sold in the market today do not conform to these standards. Then again, will there be enough money for people to renovate the hemp plants if they are not able to find it? What will need to be accomplished if the products made from hemp are illegal? “He said.
Paul pointed out that the House version of the bill, which still includes the hemp prohibition language, only made it to committee.
Technically, they should be prohibited from putting hemp language into the law at all, he stated. Washington is notorious for breaking rules, or inventing new rules on the fly. So even though these people have acknowledged to me they shouldn’t do this—that it’s against the rules—they’re going to do it anyway. This is the topic we have been discussing.”
McConnell, the Senate’s majority leader, was repeatedly reminded by the senator to stakeholder and supporters that the ban proposed would put their livelihoods and jobs at risk.
He said that Senator McConnell, and Rep. Harris were the driving forces behind this problem. “They’re driving the numbers. That will eliminate the sector.” Paul suggested in his amended that most of the people he spoke to would be happy to receive the report.
“Everybody else I’ve talked to would say, ‘Oh, we’ll be fine with the study,'” he said. You know, we should study it and not destroy the entire industry. Some of them are saying they’re pro-hemp—they’ve been publicly pro-hemp—but they don’t know what to do.”
“I believe they’re open minded.” McConnell, and the long-standing friendships they share, will influence them, said Senator McConnell, “unless there are thousands of people who can convince them to reconsider this issue.”
There’s an actual danger. “Most have stated that they are open. But the default position would be to give McConnell what he desires. Paul stated that this is what will happen. There’s no other purpose for these figures than to destroy the industry. And we must try everything to defer this, so that we can have an honest, intelligent discussion over the course of the next few months. There is still a risk that this will go south.
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Conversations about hemp began days after 39 attorneys general from state and territories, representing both parties in Congress, called for clarification of the federal definition and regulations to prevent the sale of cannabinoid-containing products that are intoxicating.
In August, McConnell–who ushered in the federal legalization of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill–took to the Senate floor to criticize those who opposed the ban, including Paul.
Meanwhile, Paul recently filed a standalone bill that would go in the opposite direction of the hemp ban, proposing to triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.
In June, the senator presented the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan Act (HEMP). It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.
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