New report by a Senate committee expresses its concern over “misleading” marketing of cannabis and the need to revise hemp rules. They also support continued research in the therapeutic benefits from psychedelic medicine.
A report issued by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday is annexed to a spending bill that contains provisions for a federal ban of hemp products with any “quantifiable amount” of THC. However, bipartisan senators did agree to amend that language to delay implementation for a year—unlike a separate House version that advanced in that chamber last month.
Although marijuana and psychedelics were not specifically addressed by the Senate legislation, there are sections in the panel report that address these substances.
The committee, for instance, is concerned about “the proliferation of products that are marketed as violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, including derivatives from the cannabis plant.”
“The Committee is aware that non-FFDCA compliant products pose potential health and safety risks to consumers through misleading, unsubstantiated, and false claims that cannabis and cannabis derivatives can treat serious and life-threatening diseases and conditions, including COVID–19 and cancer,” it says.
With respect to psychedelics policy, the committee noted “the increased interest and need to study psychedelics, including MDMA, psilocybin, ibogaine, and 5–MeO–DMT, and their potential therapeutic effects.”
The Committee urges FDA to collaborate with them [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health] The Committee encourages public-private partnerships to be developed and supported by the FDA, VA, DoD and NIH in order to further psychedelic therapeutic research. FDA will maintain its regulatory independence as an observer. The Committee asks for a progress report within 180 days after the enactment.
On hemp—a contentious topic in Congress in recent months—the report also said that members recognize “the growing consumer demand for American-made hemp products following the expanded legalization of hemp under the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.”
The Committee states that “as the industry continues its innovation and expansion to meet the consumer’s demand, there is a need for clear science-based guidance in order to ensure consumer safety and clarity of regulation.” To support this initiative, the Committee directs FDA to engage and solicit input from industry stakeholders such as small businesses, scientists and manufacturers, health professionals, academic researchers and others in the hemp sector on proposed limits for tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinoids.
In the report, the Committee urges FDA officials to contact the states to find out what they are doing to protect consumers from safety issues such as age and cannabinoid restrictions. “The FDA will brief the Committee on its planned engagements and information requests in 60 days following this act’s enactment.”
The committee also wants the FDA to “improve the data sharing and coordination of State and Federal Authorities, for example by continuing the FDA’s Cannabinoid Hemp Product 20.88 Agreement Information Sharing Initiative.”
The report also includes hemp-related provisions, including one that encourages the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct biotechnology and genomes research with competent institutions in order to “elucidate genetic control of important production and quality traits of hemp in order to facilitate cultivar developments.”
In addition, the Committee will provide no less than fiscal year 2024 levels for [the Agricultural Research Service] “Partner with organizations already involved in this research to conduct research on hemp genetic improvements and breeding using new breeding and editing methods,” the report says.
Committee members also discussed hemp germplam. They stated they recognize the “increasing demand for Hemp for its variety of applications and growing importance to U.S. farmers.”
It stated that “when the nation’s hemp genetic material was destroyed in 1980, plant breeders lost public access to germplasm available for breeding plants.” The Committee orders ARS to create and maintain a repository for hemp germplasm at the Plant Genetics Resources Research Unit. It provides funding no lower than that of fiscal year 2020.
Another section that is specific to hemp acknowledges “the emerging market potential of U.S. Hemp and hemp-based product for various uses.”
“The Committee directs ARS conduct regionally driven research, development and stakeholder involvement to improve agronomic understanding and agroeconomic understanding to effectively integrate hemp into current agricultural cropping and processing systems and marketing. For this, the Committee allocates no less than 2024 fiscal year level. “Research, engagement, technology transfer, shall be carried out in strict compliance with all Federal and state authorities and regulations.”
During the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting, several sources informed MEDCAN24 of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) involvement in the cannabis restrictive language. McConnell was said to be behind this legislation because he championed the legalization hemp through the 2018 bill while as the majority leader. He wanted to redefine himself by criminalizing cannabinoid endocrine disruptors such as delta-8THC.
Jeff Merkley, a senator from Oregon, said that while he appreciated McConnell’s concerns, he was concerned that the prohibition could be too broad and affect even products that are not intoxicating. He added that this language addressed “one very important problem, but caused another one.”
Although the amended House report attached to the version of the Bill clarifies that the House committee does not intend to prevent people from accessing industrial or nonintoxicating cannabinoid hemp products with trace amounts or small amounts of THC, the bill states still that products containing “quantifiable quantities” of THC could not be marketed. CBD-only products are rare. They often contain natural traces THC.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), for his part, recently filed a bill that would go in the opposite direction of Harris’s 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.
Last month, the senator presented the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan Act (HEMP). It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.
Hemp and its derivatives were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, but the industry has experienced multiple setbacks in the years since—and the proliferation of intoxicating cannabinoid products has led to pushes in Congress and state legislatures across the country to reign in the largely unregulated market.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), for his part, told MEDCAN24 recently 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.
He also briefly weighed in on the Texas governor’s recent veto of a bill to recriminalize hemp products with any THC—simply stating that he’s “not paying attention to what a single state is doing” while he focuses on enacting the proposed federal ban.
The language in the congressional bill, meanwhile, would still effectively eliminate the most commonly marketed hemp products within the industry, as even non-intoxicating CBD items that are sold across the country typically contain trace amounts of THC. Under the current law, these products can be sold if they do not contain more than 0.3% THC in dry weight.
Harris’ proposed policy would change this dramatically. The proposed policy would maintain “industrial hemp’s” legal status under a new definition which allows the sale and cultivation of hemp for fibre, whole grain oil, cake, nuts, hulls, microgreens, or other edible hemp products for human consumption.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report last month stating that the legislation would “effectively” prohibit hemp-derived cannabinoid 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 stakeholders protested this proposal. An earlier version was included last year in the base legislation from the 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.
The new version of the spending bill for 2026 has some changes, such as a change in what is considered a “quantifiable amount” of THC for hemp products.
The new definition of a quantitative amount states that it is based “on substance, form or manufacture (as determined in consultation by the Secretary for Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture),”. Previously, the amount was simply defined as “determined in consultation by the secretary in consultation to the Secretary for Health and Human Services.”
In the proposed legislation, it is now specified that hemp doesn’t include any “drugs that are the subject of an approved application under paragraph (c) or subsection (j) section 505 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (2 U.S.C. The proposed legislation also specifies that the term hemp does not include “a drug which has been approved under subsection (c) or (j) of section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (2 U.S.C.
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.”
He said that by pushing an industry in rapid evolution back into the dark, Congress was creating chaos on the market, undermining the state’s initiatives, and punishing the responsible parties. We urge the entire House to reconsider its approach. States can safely regulate intoxicating product through effective systems that protect consumer confidence and public safety. Congress should follow the states’ lead rather than override them.
Members of WSWA also met with lawmakers and staffers in April to advocate for three key policy priorities that the group says is based on “sound principles of alcohol distribution.” The group also met with lawmakers and staffers in April to advocate for three key policy priorities that are based on “sound principles of alcohol distribution.”
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 of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told congressional lawmakers in April that the market is “begging” for federal regulations around cannabis products.
Rep. James Comer asked at the hearing if there would need to be “a gazillion office workers who work from home”, in order to regulate 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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