Bipartisan Senators Push To Delay Federal Hemp THC Product Ban As Lawmakers Consider Regulatory Alternatives To Prohibition

A bipartisan group of senators is pushing to give the hemp industry two
more years before a federal ban on THC products would take effect, which
stakeholders hope will better position them to negotiate a broader
compromise with lawmakers.

After President Donald Trump signed a spending bill last year with
provisions that would wipe out a prominent sector of the hemp economy,
businesses and advocates were quick to call for at least delaying its
implementation. The law is currently set to become effective this November.

Now, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
have filed new legislation that would push that timeline back by another
two years, giving hemp interests additional time to make their case that
the policy would significantly harm the industry that was legalized during
Trump’s first term under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The measure, titled the Hemp Planting Predictability Act, simply states
that “Section 781 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2026 (7 U.S.C. 1639o
note; Public Law 119–37), is amended, in the matter preceding paragraph
(1), by striking ‘365 days’ and inserting ‘3 years.’

Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN) and bipartisan cosponsors filed similar legislation
to delay the hemp ban in the House earlier this week.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer
(R-KY), who is cosponsoring that proposal, appeared at a press conference
on Thursday alongside farmers who are concerned about the looming federal
hemp ban’s impact on their businesses.

For what it’s worth, four in five marijuana consumers say they oppose the
recriminalization of hemp THC products under the spending bill Trump signed
in November. However, it should be noted that that poll was conducted weeks
before he issued a cannabis rescheduling order and took steps to protect
access to full-spectrum CBD.

Trump signed an executive order last month 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 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.

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

Meanwhile, a separate 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.

*Read the full text of the Senate hemp bill below:*

The post Bipartisan Senators Push To Delay Federal Hemp THC Product Ban As
Lawmakers Consider Regulatory Alternatives To Prohibition appeared first on Marijuana
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