Mitch McConnell, R-KY, took the Senate floor Friday and blasted opponents of his plan to ban hemp-derived THC-containing products. He also lambasted his own state GOP colleague for “derailing” his efforts to criminalize cannabinoids in a major spending bill.
McConnell said that during a speech on the floor, he had “led the efforts” to include hemp in the Farm Bill of 2018, which has led to “tremendous” growth in the industry “especially in Kentucky”.
Hemp can be found in food and clothing as well as paper, plastic, and other consumer products. He said that its versatility had given farmers hope of a profitable new cash crop. Some companies are exploiting loopholes in the Farm Bill 2018 to get a quick payday by converting hemp into substances that contain legal quantities of THC.
Senator said, “They are using these chemicals to make appealing snacks and candies and then distributing them with familiar packaging.” “Young children are consuming these snacks—thinking they’re candy, not poison. These products can be bought at many convenience stores and are readily available.
Some are more powerful than smoking marijuana. He said: “Products more potent than cannabis can be bought at a gasstation.” He added that he had tried to have the Food and Drug Administration regulate the products but that they hadn’t taken initiative.
McConnell, in an attempt to circumvent FDA regulations, banned hemp with any amount of THC that was “quantifiable”. This legislation covered Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.
McConnell agreed when Rand Paul (RKY), the senator from Kentucky, threatened to hold the bill up procedurally if hemp was not removed.
Paul was apparently the one who threw the process off track. We need the process of appropriations to work. Congress has to fund the federal government.
In order to get the package moving, I let my words be taken out of the bill,” said he. But my efforts to root out the bad actors, safeguard our children, help farmers, and reaffirming our original legislative intention will continue.
Let me explain a few points for those who have been misled by my opponents in this matter. Some will say that the language used would have destroyed the hemp industry. The senator replied, “Of course that is wrong.” Under my words, CBD and industrial hemp would still have been legal. Period. If this law becomes law, some predicted that the economy of farmers would suffer a severe downturn. “Wrong again.”
McConnell, despite having hemp prohibition provisions removed from the Ag/FDA Bill during negotiations, filed another amendment on Wednesday in order to reinstate the policy. The language is essentially identical, except that some structural and technical changes have been made.
According to two sources in the industry, MEDCAN24 was informed on Friday by McConnell’s replacement. amendment Voting will not take place. The senator appeared to admit in his floor address that the bill would not include the ban in the Senate appropriations package.
Paul and the hemp industry have both been vocally against the proposal. Paul also introduced his own amendment this week, to officially strike out the hemp THC ban provisions, which, according to him, would “destroy” the marketplace.
One source said it’s also their expectation that Paul’s amendment—as well as another that he filed as a compromise, banning synthetic cannabinoid products but maintaining the current 0.3 percent THC limit for naturally derived cannabinoids—will also not receive a vote on the floor.
McConnell’s amendment and the original bill are both criticized for their intent to redefine hemp. Hemp was legalized federally under the 2018 Farm Bill, with McConnell as the majority leader. This would recriminalize any hemp that contains “quantifiable amounts” of THC.
Some have claimed that those concerns are exaggerated and it’s not meant to disrupt non-intoxicating CBD markets. However, some industry participants have stated that the zero THC standard from a manufacturing standpoint is impossible due to the nature of this plant.
Paul: “We hope to fix this so that they don’t destroy the hemp industry.” told You can ask a Pol about the changes you think will occur in this bill on Tuesday.
Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota (Sen. Amy Klobuchar) has filed a separate lawsuit. amendment The Ag/FDA Spending Bill was passed on Wednesday, and it included $250,000 to be allocated to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to accelerate fiber research for industrial hemp by the Cereal Disease Laboratory and Cotton Fiber Bioscience and Utilization Research Unit. This would include cooperative agreements with qualified non-profit organizations.
MEDCAN24 reported on Wednesday that Jeff Merkley, a long-time marijuana reform advocate, sided with Paul and said the hemp ban would “really ruin the CBD industry.”
He said that “we’re working out an alternative” while admitting that McConnell is right that there are some areas of the federal hemp laws that also need to be changed.
One of Paul’s two recently filed amendments would exclude from the definition of federally legal industrial hemp any product containing “cannabinoids that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant” as well as those that “are capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant” but “were synthesized or manufactured outside the plant.”
The law would maintain legal status for plants that have “delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol content of less than 0.3 per cent in the plant, on a weighted basis,” and derivatives unless the products contain “delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol contents of greater than 0.3 per cent, as determined by the substance, the form, the manufacture or the article.”
The House’s version of agriculture appropriations bills still contains the hemp ban, and it is possible that this language will end up in the final legislation to be sent to President Obama later this year.
Paul told MEDCAN24 late last month that the proposal—which largely mirrors provisions of a House version of the spending bill, championed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)—would “completely destroy” the industry.
On the House side, while Harris amended report language attached to the chamber’s bill clarifying that it’s not the intent to stop people from accessing “industrial or non-intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products with trace or insignificant amounts of THC,” the bill itself still says that products containing any “quantifiable” amounts of THC couldn’t be marketed.
Paul also recently introduced a bill to reverse the current hemp prohibition, by proposing to triple THC levels that can be legally contained in the crop. This would address multiple concerns raised by the industry about the federal regulation.
In June, the senator presented the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan Act (HEMP). It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.
Harris, for his part, told MEDCAN24 that he’s not concerned about any potential opposition in the Senate—and he also disputed reports about the scope of what his legislation would do to the industry.
In June, the Congressional Research Service released a study stating that legislation will “effectively prohibit” hemp-derived products. The CRS originally stated that a similar ban would also prevent the sale CBD, but for unknown reasons the report has been updated to remove that specific language.
The hemp language is largely consistent with appropriations and agriculture legislation that was introduced, but not ultimately enacted, under the last Congress.
Hemp industry participants rallied to oppose that proposal. A previous version of the bill was also included as part of the base measure from last year’s subcommittee. It’s virtually identical to a provision of the 2024 Farm Bill that was attached by a separate committee last May via an amendment from Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), which was also not enacted into law.
A leading alcohol industry association, meanwhile, has called on Congress to dial back language in the House spending bill that would ban most consumable hemp products, instead proposing to maintain the legalization of naturally derived cannabinoids from the crop and only prohibit synthetic items.
Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) President and CEO Francis Creighton said in a press release that “proponents and opponents alike have agreed that this language amounts to a ban.”
Separately, key GOP congressional lawmakers—including one member who supports marijuana legalization—don’t seem especially concerned about provisions in the bill despite concern from stakeholders that it would put much of the hemp industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products derived from the plant.
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Jonathan Miller, general counsel at the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told congressional lawmakers in April that the market is “begging” for federal regulations around cannabis products.
Rep. James Comer, R-KY, also asked about FDA’s inaction on regulations. He was sarcastic when he said it would take “a gazillion of bureaucrats who work at home” to control cannabinoids like CBD.
A report from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) last year called cannabis a “significant threat” to the alcohol industry, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine.
Last November, meanwhile, a beer industry trade group put out a statement of guiding principles to address what it called “the proliferation of largely unregulated intoxicating hemp and cannabis products,” warning of risks to consumers and communities resulting from THC consumption.
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