4 In 5 Marijuana Consumers Oppose Hemp THC Ban Trump Signed...

Four in five marijuana consumers say they oppose the recriminalization of
hemp THC products under a spending bill President Donald Trump signed into
law in November—weeks before he issued a cannabis rescheduling order and
took steps to protect access to full-spectrum CBD.

The current law as enacted, however, would redefine hemp in a way that
industry stakeholders argue would effectively eradicate the sector that
Trump legitimized during his first term when hemp was federally legalized
under the 2018 Farm Bill.

Though there’s been some splintering between marijuana and hemp interests
over the THC ban, which is set to take effect next November, an
overwhelming majority of cannabis consumers (82 percent) say they’re
against the pending policy change.

That’s according to a new poll from the cannabis telehealth platform
NuggMD, which asked marijuana users to weigh in on the hemp THC
recriminalization provisions of the law.

Just 4 percent of respondents said they support the ban, while 15 percent
said they don’t have an opinion about the policy.
Q: “The president recently signed legislation that re-criminalizes
hemp-derived THC, which was made legal in 2018. Do you support or oppose
this policy?”
n: %
I oppose the policy. THC from hemp should be legal. 365 81.5%
I don’t have an opinion on the policy. 67 15.0%
I support the policy. THC from hemp should be prohibited. 16 3.6%

The survey involved interviews with 448 cannabis consumers who live in
state-legal markets from December 4-14, with a +/-4.63 percentage point
margin of error.

The poll was conducted weeks before Trump signed an executive order
directing the attorney general to complete the process of moving marijuana
from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Part of that announcement also hold implications for the forthcoming hemp
law. The president’s executive order also urged Congress to examine
updating the definition of hemp to ensure that full-spectrum CBD is
accessible to patients.

A further redefinition of hemp would be part of a novel proposal to allow
Medicare recipients to access non-intoxicating CBD that’d be covered under
the federal health care plan.

To effectuate that, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will
be announcing “a model that will allow a number of CMS beneficiaries to
benefit from receiving CBD under doctor recommendation at no cost,” a White
House official said during a briefing that Marijuana Moment first reported
leaked details from ahead of the signing event.

“The December 18 Executive Order on cannabis makes it clear that the White
House has a real CBD agenda,” Andrew Graham, communications director of
NuggMD, told Marijuana Moment. “We polled the popularity of Congress’s
latest efforts to regulate hemp because, right now, that policy is a major
obstacle to that agenda.”

“Cannabis consumers are the primary stakeholders in this policy debate
because another ban on hemp THC affects them directly, so their voice
belongs in the conversation,” he said. “Beyond that, there is also a
practicality question about the ban, because I don’t know how you’d make
federal policy that bans THC but does not ban CBD. Given the existing
popularity of hemp THC products, this strikes me as a pick-a-lane situation
and I won’t pretend to know which side will prevail.”

Trump seemed endorse a more flexible CBD policy over the summer when he shared
a video calling for that specific reform while promoting the health
benefits of cannabidiol, particularly for seniors.

Meanwhile, a recently filed Republican-led congressional bill would stop
the implementation of the hemp ban under the enacted appropriations
legislation.

Hemp businesses and industry groups have warned about the potential
ramifications of the ban, but despite his support for states’ rights for
cannabis and a recent social media post touting the benefits of CBD, Trump
signed the underlying spending measure into law without acknowledging the
hemp provisions.

GOP political operative Roger Stone said recently that Trump was effectively
“forced” by Republican lawmakers to sign the spending bill with the hemp
THC ban language.

However, a White House spokesperson said prior to the bill signing that Trump
specifically supported the prohibition language.

The Democratic governor of Kentucky said that the hemp industry is an
“important” part of the economy that deserves to be regulated at the state
level—rather than federally prohibited, as Congress has moved to do.

Also, a leading veterans organization is warning congressional leaders that
the newly approved blanket ban on consumable hemp products could
inadvertently “slam the door shut” on critical research.


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Since 2018, cannabis products have been considered legal hemp if they
contain less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis.

The new legislation specifies that, within one year of enactment, the
weight will apply to total THC—including delta-8 and other isomers. It will
also include “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are
marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals as a
tetrahydrocannabinol (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services).”

The new definition of legal hemp will additionally ban “any intermediate
hemp-derived cannabinoid products which are marketed or sold as a final
product or directly to an end consumer for personal or household use” as
well as products containing cannabinoids that are synthesized or
manufactured outside of the cannabis plant or not capable of being
naturally produced by it.

Legal hemp products will be limited to a total of 0.4 milligrams per
container of total THC or any other cannabinoids with similar effects.

Within 90 days of the bill’s enactment, the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and other agencies will need to publish list of “all cannabinoids
known to FDA to be capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa
L. plant, as reflected in peer reviewed literature,” “all
tetrahydrocannabinol class cannabinoids known to the agency to be naturally
occurring in the plant” and “all other known cannabinoids with similar
effects to, or marketed to have similar effects to, tetrahyrocannabinol
class cannabinoids.”

The language slightly differs from provisions included in legislation that
had previously advanced out of the House and Senate Appropriations panels,
which would have banned products containing any “quantifiable” amount of
THC, to be determined by the HHS secretary and secretary of agriculture.

The post 4 In 5 Marijuana Consumers Oppose Hemp THC Ban Trump Signed Ahead
Of Rescheduling And CBD Access Order, Poll Shows appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.