Future Of Federal Hemp Laws In Flux Amid Congressional Negotiations, But GOP Senators Say Alternatives To THC Ban Are On The Table

As Congress continues to navigate a path forward on funding legislation to
end an ongoing government shutdown, lawmakers are still at work attempting
to reach a deal on federal hemp laws—with one GOP senator telling Marijuana
Moment that multiple options are on the table, though it will ultimately
come down to what leadership wants.

While hemp and its derivatives were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm
Bill, there’s been a groundswell of interest within Congress and state
legislatures to address what’s been described as a “loophole” in the law
that’s allowed the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating cannabinoid
products. That’s come to the fore amid debates over agriculture
appropriations legislation.

Two GOP lawmakers—Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Rep. Andy Harris
(R-MD)—have pushed aggressively for an outright ban on hemp products
containing THC. But others such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) have insisted that
such a policy change would devastate the industry. And Paul said recently
he’d go so far as to hold up large-scale spending legislation if a full ban
was kept intact.

“We’re trying to prevent them from killing, eliminating, the hemp
industry—and we’re still working on the issue,” Paul told Marijuana Moment
in a new interview on Thursday.

He also pushed back against a recent letter from 39 bipartisan state and
territory attorneys general who implored Republican leaders to fully
prevent the marketing of intoxicating hemp products.

“Some of them came back from states that have completely legalized
marijuana, and they’re going to ban hemp? I mean, it’s just ridiculous,” he
said. “So they prefer people to use a much higher dose of THC from cannabis
than lower-dose hemp products. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee and
also chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that handles agriculture
issues, told Marijuana Moment that members are “working it out” with
respect to the hemp issue.

“I didn’t say we had; I said we are,” the senator said in an interview
while walking on Thursday. “In fact, when I get back to my office, that’s
one of the things I’ll be working on.”

He added that “we’re making progress” and “have some good options,” but
lawmakers “just have to work with our leadership and figure out which way
we’re going to go with it.”

“There’s a number of options there, for example studying it for a year or
having [the Food and Drug Administration] evaluate it,” Hoeven said.
“There’s a difference of opinion on what the delta-9 levels should be as
far as the THC and the [cannabinoids]. That’s essentially the issue, and
there’s a range of ways to address it.”

“We’re just working through the options, and I’m not sure where we’re going
to settle in yet. But obviously we’re engaging leadership as well, so
they’ll obviously make the final call here,” he said.

As far as options go, Paul did put forward legislative language earlier
this month to require a study and report on state regulatory models for
hemp that could inform future revisions to the federal law—rather than
prohibit sales altogether, as McConnell would have it.

Marijuana Moment asked McConnell about his Kentucky colleague’s proposed
alternative solution on Thursday, but he declined to respond when
approached at the Capitol and kept walking.

For what it’s worth, the House has not yet passed its version of the
agriculture appropriations legislation. The bill, with a hemp ban
championed by Harris, did move through committee, but it hasn’t reached the
floor. And through a procedural protest on the Senate side, Paul got that
language removed from the version his chamber passed.

Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told
Marijuana Moment on Thursday that stakeholders are “waiting with nervous
anticipation” for the ultimately outcome of the congressional negotiations,
“but we do believe that things are moving in our direction.”

“We have, over the last few weeks, really ramped up our efforts to
communicate with Congress, and the feedback we’re getting is is almost
uniformly positive,” he said. “It really just appears that we’ve got two
guys in McConnell and Harris that are dug in on the other side.”


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In August, McConnell–who ushered in the federal legalization of hemp under
the 2018 Farm Bill–took to the Senate floor to criticize those who opposed
the ban, including Paul.

Meanwhile, Paul recently filed a standalone bill that would go in the
opposite direction of the hemp 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.

The senator introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic
Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, in June. It mirrors versions he’s sponsored
over the last several sessions.

*The LCB contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.*

The post Future Of Federal Hemp Laws In Flux Amid Congressional
Negotiations, But GOP Senators Say Alternatives To THC Ban Are On The Table
appeared first on Marijuana Moment.