GOP Congressional Committee Proposes Ban On Hemp Products With THC That Advocates Say Would Have ‘Devastating’ Impact On Industry

A GOP-led House committee has unveiled a spending bill that contains
provisions that hemp stakeholders say would devastate the industry,
prohibiting most consumable cannabinoid products that were federally
legalized during the first Trump administration.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development,
Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies published the text of
the legislation covering fiscal year 2026 just one day ahead of a scheduled
Thursday markup.

The 138-page bill covers a wide range of issues, but for the hemp industry,
there’s a section of particular concern that would redefine hemp under
federal statute in a way that would prohibit cannabis products containing
any “quantifiable” amount of THC or “any other cannabinoids that have
similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or
animals” as THC.

That would 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.

But the proposed policy being taken up by the subcommittee helmed by
anti-marijuana Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) would drastically change that. It
would instead maintain the legal status of “industrial hemp” under a
revised definition that allows for the cultivation and sale of hemp grown
for fiber, whole grain, oil, cake, nut, hull, microgreens or “other edible
hemp leaf products intended for human consumption.”

A press release from Harris’s committee says the legislation “supports the
Trump Administration and mandate of the American people by…closing the hemp
loophole that has resulted in the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating
hemp products, including Delta-8 and hemp flower, being sold online and in
gas stations across the country.”

The prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana cheered the
move.

“This is a huge win for families, kids, and public health,” the group said
in a social media post.

A Delta-8 THC ban is officially included in the base text of a must-pass
Appropriations bill.

House Appropriators say the ban “supports the mandate of the American
people.”

This is a huge win for families, kids, and public health.
https://t.co/KdLsLsLeqg #Delta8 #Congress…

— SAM (@learnaboutsam) June 4, 2025

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, 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.

While certain text has been revised, the legislation “has the same desired
effect, which would ban the vast majority of hemp products in the
marketplace,” Jonathan Miller, general counsel to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable,
told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday.

Miller said stakeholders are generally skeptical about the prospect of the
appropriations legislation advancing in its current form given unrelated
controversies over various provisions, but they are still operating under
the impression that it’s “a dire emergency, because this would have such a
devastating impact on farmers and on consumers that really take these
products for granted to helping their health and wellness.”


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Separately, Miller 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.

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 (R) has declined to say how he will
act on the measure.

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.

North Carolina Governor Backs Marijuana Legalization And Forms A Bipartisan
Commission To Craft A Plan

*Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.*

The post GOP Congressional Committee Proposes Ban On Hemp Products With THC
That Advocates Say Would Have ‘Devastating’ Impact On Industry appeared
first on Marijuana Moment.