Key GOP congressional lawmakers—including one member who supports marijuana legalization—don’t seem especially concerned about provisions in a new spending bill that would put much of the hemp industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products derived from the plant.
During interviews with MEDCAN24, Congressional Cannabis Caucus Co-chair Rep. Dave Joyce, (R-OH), and House Agriculture Committee Chair Glen Thompson, (R-PA), along with Rep. Lou Correa, (D-CA), weighed-in on the hemp-language in the massive bill which was approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies on Friday.
According to the bill, hemp will be defined under federal law in such a way as to prohibit any cannabis product containing “any quantifiable amount” of THC.
Joyce supports legalizing cannabis and regulation for adults, but he says the Farm Bill 2018 language that legalized federally hemp and derivatives has been the “stepping stone” for gas station deliveries of intoxicants whether they are chemically made or hemp. [products] Or whatever else they are selling at the gas station.”
It has no age limit. You’re trying to handcuff the cannabis industry, which has high standards and must meet them everywhere. Yet, this industry is flourishing,” said he, adding that the problems of the law had been “exacerbated” by some people due to certain allegations. [intoxicating hemp products are] cannabis. Hemp is no longer considered hemp.
He also appeared to support a move in Ohio that would limit the sale of intoxicating hemp-based products to licensed marijuana dispensaries. He claimed to have told Governor. Mike DeWine, (R), said that regardless of what he thinks about the matter, it is “the gas station stuff the kids get that these people are all up in arms over.”
Joyce did say that he felt the hemp provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill included a loophole which has been exploited. However, he hadn’t yet read the new legislation.
“I’m all for regulating the industry… It has to be regulated so that only adults are getting it,” he said.
The appropriations bills that are advancing through the House will have the impact of banning CBD products with trace amounts of THC that are not intoxicating.
Thompson’s committee, for its part, stated that, although it “improved on” and clarified federal hemp laws in the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bill versions, “unfortunately” there were “some unintended results.”
Some people really took advantage [the hemp language] They used it for intoxicants. I believe that is what they did. [the House Appropriations Committee] “Is trying to tackle,” he stated. But he added that the most likely solution to the long-term problem will be through the next large-scale legislation in agriculture, and not an appropriations law which must be renewed annually.
This will be determined within the Farm Bill. The committee will decide what to do,” said the congressman. I can assure you that many members of the Agriculture Committee of the House were unhappy with the way some took advantage of this language. It was supposed to be about food and fiber—not about intoxicants.”
Correa said that he is “not sure” what motivates Andy Harris, a vocal opponent of cannabis reform and the chairperson of the House Subcommittee who advanced the budget bill Thursday. Harris has been a vociferous critic. The congressman hopes Harris is “okay” with his psychedelics work, referring to the efforts of Harris’ Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies Caucus to fund research into plant medicines.
Harris said in opening remarks at Thursday’s hearing that the legislation “closes the hemp loophole from the 2018 Farm Bill that has resulted in the proliferation of intoxicating cannabinoid products, including delta-8 and hemp flower being sold online and in gas stations nationwide under the false guise of being ‘USDA approved.'”
He said that many states had taken action to prevent these harmful products reaching children and consumers. It was time for Congress, to take steps to protect the industrial hemp industry, to close this gap.
Even non-intoxicating hemp CBD products sold in all parts of the nation contain trace amounts THC. Currently, these products can be sold if the dry weight of their product does not exceed 0.3 percent.
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 subcommittee’s base bill. 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.
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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, R-KY, also asked about FDA’s inaction on regulations. He even joked that it would take “a gazillion of bureaucrats who work at home” to control cannabinoids like CBD.
The consumable hemp product crackdown isn’t exclusive to the federal government, as multiple states—from California to Florida—have moved to ban intoxicating cannabinoids in recent months.
In Texas, the legislature recently delivered a bill to the governor that would outlaw all consumable hemp-derived cannabinoid products containing any detectable THC. Gov. Greg Abbott has not said how he plans to act.
Meanwhile, alcohol industry representatives descended on Washington, D.C. in April to urge members of Congress to create a federal regulatory framework for intoxicating hemp-derived products such as cannabinoid-infused beverages—a market segment that’s ballooned since the legalization of hemp through the 2018 Farm Bill.
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.
The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
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Brendan Cleak provided the photo.
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