Major Alcohol Industry Group Pushes Congress To Dial Back Proposed Hemp Product Ban

A leading alcohol industry association is calling on Congress to dial back
language in a House committee-approved 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), which has backed federally
legalizing marijuana and regulating hemp products, said on Friday that it
generally supports the effort to ban synthetic cannabinoids such as delta-8
THC that have proliferated since the federal legalization of hemp under the
2018 Farm Bill.

But the hemp provision of the spending bill that cleared the the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and
Drug Administration, and Related Agencies on Thursday is a bridge too far,
the association said.

“WSWA supports the subcommittee’s action to eliminate synthetic, unnatural
cannabinoids that are a threat to public health and safety,” WSWA President
and CEO Francis Creighton said in a press release. “But prohibition of all
cannabinoids is not the answer—it risks sweeping up state regulated and
Farm Bill compliant hemp-derived products that have driven a new and
dynamic market.”

“Under attempted complete prohibition, bad actors dealing in potentially
harmful products will continue to operate and thrive in the shadows, while
state regulatory structures that protect public safety will be put in
conflict with Federal law,” Creighton said.

WSWA put forward a policy recommendations for lawmakers to consider—namely
removing the a provision redefining hemp in a way that’d prohibit products
with any quantifiable amount of THC so that the federal government could
instead “preserve state authority, protect compliant businesses, and ensure
clarity for consumers and regulators.”

WSWA urges Congress to revise language in the FY2026 Ag-FDA bill that could
unintentionally ban compliant, naturally derived Delta-9 hemp products.

🔗 Read More: https://t.co/cj5M0WzfbC pic.twitter.com/245Tup8UPO

— WSWA (@WSWAMedia) June 6, 2025

The consumable hemp product crackdown isn’t exclusive to the federal
government, as multiple states—from California to Florida to Texas—have
moved to ban intoxicating cannabinoids in recent months.

“States have stepped up to fill the regulatory vacuum, and Congress must be
careful not to undermine their progress,” Creighton said.

Shawn Lederman of the Florida-based Greenlight Distribution said the
company has “invested in jobs, infrastructure, and compliance to bring
accountability to this space—efforts that would be wiped out overnight,
handing the market to unregulated bad actors. We urge Congress to respect
our business and citizens. A total ban would be devastating.”

John Giarrante, president of Show Me Beverages in Missouri, said the
committee’s “proposal to ban naturally occurring hemp-derived products like
Delta-9 will undermine the legitimate and responsible work we’ve done to
meet consumer demand while prioritizing public health and safety.”

“We’ve built a compliant, transparent business to bring structure and
legitimacy to this fast-growing market,” he said. “This action would not
only undo that progress but also have a harmful economic impact—putting
jobs at risk and handing the entire category over to unlicensed,
unregulated actors with no regard for safety or accountability.”

Members of 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.

In an op-ed for Marijuana Moment this month, Creighton echoed that point,
reiterating the organization’s position that regulation is superior to
prohibition.

This is also consistent with WSWA’s earlier message to House and Senate
Agriculture Committee last session, where the association implored
congressional leaders to create a regulatory framework for hemp-based
intoxicating cannabinoids—rather than impose an outright ban.

Meanwhile, 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.

Under the measure that’s being contested, hemp would be redefined 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.

The provisions in the bill now heading to a full committee vote 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.

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.


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Jonathan Miller, general counsel of 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.

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Hemp Product Ban appeared first on Marijuana Moment.