D.C. Hemp Company Sues Feds Over ‘Unworkable Standard’ Created By Marijuana Budget Rider

A hemp retailer in Washington, D.C. is suing the the federal government
over a budget restriction that prevents local officials from establishing
and regulating a retail marijuana market.

Capitol Hemp filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia on Thursday, seeking a declaration from a federal judge that the
congressional budget rider doesn’t stand in the way of D.C. adopting
legislation to regulate hemp.

“Although hemp was removed from the federal Controlled Substances Act in
2018, the District of Columbia has continued to take enforcement actions
against hemp without adopting any legislation specifically addressing it.
As a direct result of such enforcement,” the company’s complaint says,
Capitol Hemp “has been named as a defendant in a related federal case.”

At the center of the lawsuit is the so-called Harris rider, a longtime ban
blocking Washington, D.C. from creating a system of regulated adult-use
marijuana sales. It’s named after Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who was behind
the initial ban in 2014. It was renewed last year after earlier efforts to
remove the longtime provision.

Capitol Hemp is asking the court to declare the language of the Harris
amendment “unconstitutionally vague” because it employs the term
“tetrahydrocannabinols derivative,” which the company asserts is “lacking
any established statutory definition or limiting principle.”

It further says the federal restriction’s reference to “any Schedule I
substance…or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative” is “ambiguous and
unworkable” when read in conjunction with D.C.’s Controlled Substances Act.

The situation, the complaint says, “creates an ambiguous and unworkable
standard that prevents the District from determining which substances it
may lawfully regulate.”

Specifically, Capitol Hemp’s challenge says, if the federal restriction is
interpreted to include all THC, it “could be construed to bar the District
from regulating or even clarifying the status of lawful hemp-derived
cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC.”

The suit, reported earlier by Politico, comes as both federal and state
lawmakers increasingly move to crack down on markets for intoxicating hemp
products, which can sometimes contain as much psychoactive THC as
state-regulated marijuana products. The situation—which many have called a
loophole resulting from the 2018 Farm Bill’s legalization of hemp
nationwide—has raised broad public health concerns, in large part because
the products are often untested and easily available to minors.

At the state level, 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.

And in Congress, a powerful GOP-led House committee recently amended a
report for a spending bill containing provisions that hemp stakeholders say
would upend the industry. The report clarifies that the panel does not
intend to prohibit non-intoxicating cannabinoid products with “trace or
insignificant amounts of THC” that were federally legalized during the
first Trump administration.

Harris, meanwhile—namesake of the Harris rider at issue in the current
suit—complained at the hearing that the Farm Bill “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.’”

“As many states have stepped in to curb these dangerous project products
from reaching consumers, particularly children, it’s time for Congress to
act to close this loophole while protecting industrial hemp industry,”
Harris said. “Reports that the included language would destroy legitimate
businesses are simply not true, and that’s clear to anyone closely reading
the carefully drafted language that I believe threaded the needle.”

Language in the bill itself 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 current law, those products are allowed
if they contain no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight.

Jonathan Miller, general counsel at the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told
Marijuana Moment that the new report language doesn’t fully address the
industry’s concerns, pointing out that it “has no binding impact on the
law, and this is especially important because, over the last several years,
[the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] has continually ignored the
report language when it comes to hemp and CBD.”

The hemp language is largely consistent with appropriations and agriculture
legislation that was introduced, but not ultimately enacted, under the last
Congress.

Hemp industry stakeholders rallied against that proposal, an earlier
version of which was also included in the base bill from the subcommittee
last year. 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.

There are some differences between the prior spending bill and this latest
version for 2026, including a redefining of what constitutes a
“quantifiable” amount of THC that’d be prohibited for hemp products.

It now says that a quantifiable amount is “based on substance, form,
manufacture, or article (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture),” whereas it
was previously defined as an amount simply “determined by the Secretary in
consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services.”

The proposed legislation also now specifies that the term hemp does not
include “a drug that is the subject of an application approved under
subsection (c) or (j) of section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355),” which seems to carve out an exception for
Food and Drug Administration- (FDA) approved drugs such Epidiolex, which is
synthesized from CBD.

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 on Thursday that “proponents and
opponents alike have agreed that this language amounts to a ban.”

“By pushing a rapidly evolving industry back into the shadows, Congress is
creating even more chaos in the marketplace, undermining state initiatives
and punishing responsible actors,” he said. “We urge the full House to
reconsider this approach. States can regulate intoxicating products safely
and effectively through systems that preserve consumer trust and public
safety. It’s time for Congress to follow their lead, not override their
authority.”

Members of Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (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.” They
include banning synthetic THC, setting up a federal system for testing and
labeling products and establishing state-level power to regulate retail
sales.

Separately, 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.

Miller at the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told congressional lawmakers in April
that the market is “begging” for federal regulations around cannabis
products.

At the hearing, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) also inquired about FDA inaction
around regulations, sarcastically asking if it’d require “a gazillion
bureaucrats that work from home” to regulate cannabinoids such as 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.

*Read the full complaint below:*

Attorneys General Group Hosts Meeting On State-Level Regulation Of
Intoxicating Hemp Products

The post D.C. Hemp Company Sues Feds Over ‘Unworkable Standard’ Created By
Marijuana Budget Rider appeared first on Marijuana Moment.