New Bipartisan Congressional Bill Would Regulate Hemp Products...

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have filed a new bill to regulate
consumable hemp products—offering a potential alternative to the outright
THC ban that was included in a spending bill President Donald Trump signed
late last year.

House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health Chairman Morgan Griffith
(R-VA) and Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) introduced the Hemp Enforcement,
Modernization, and Protection (HEMP) Act on Thursday as the future of the
market sits in limbo.

The proposal would affirmatively allow the sale of consumable hemp products
to adults 21 and older. That includes edibles, beverages and inhalable
items. Certain provisions have been amended since the GOP sponsor first
circulated a discussion draft of the legislation in August.

“Despite raising repeated concerns about the ongoing confusion regarding
the safety, consumption and sale of CBD-containing products until a
discussion draft of this bill was circulated, I believe we have yet to see
meaningful progress at the federal level,” Griffith said in a press release.

“I am proud to lead the effort in the House along with Representative
Veasey to present a path forward for the federal regulation of CBD
products,” he said. “After discussions with stakeholders, federal officials
and other relevant authorities, I believe the HEMP Act is a positive step
forward to deliver federal clarity to the American hemp landscape,
protecting consumers and providing a stable marketplace for legitimate
producers.”

“I look forward to working with my colleagues, the Trump Administration and
the [Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] to perfect this bill,” the
congressman said.

If the legislation is enacted, there would be various regulatory
restrictions for the market. For example, packaging couldn’t appeal to
youth and would need to be tamper-proof. It would also need to list all
cannabinoids present and include QR code linking to a certificate of
analysis.

Hemp product makers would be prohibited from adding substances
like alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, nicotine, melatonin or others “with
effects that could interact with cannabinoids or enhance or alter their
effects.”

There would also be manufacturing and testing requirements, and hemp
businesses would need to register their facilities.

Additionally, there are provisions mandating the establishment of a total
cannabinoid cap on hemp products. The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) would be charged with proposing cannabinoid limits within 60
days of enactment.

*If those rules aren’t implemented within three years of enactment, these
default thresholds would be set:*

- *Oral hemp products with non-intoxicating cannabinoids:* Up to
10mg/serving and 50mg/package.
- *Inhalable products:* Up to 100mg/serving and 500mg/package.
- *Topical products:* Up to 100mg/serving and 500mg/package.
- *Intoxicating cannabinoid products (e.g. items containing THC):* Up to
5mg/serving and 30mg/package.

That final THC limit on intoxicating cannabinoid products was significantly
increased compared to the earlier discussion draft, but some stakeholders
say the per package restriction is still too small—even if they support the
thrust of the revised legislation.

Another change in the latest version would give FDA the authority to
mandate cannabinoid product recalls. It would further establish a
Cannabinoid Hemp Products Advisory Committee to provide recommendations on
THC thresholds.

HHS would also be tasked with creating and maintaining a list of known
cannabinoids, which would have to be published within one year of enactment.

The measure would also amend the Food Drug & Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to create
a new chapter for cannabinoid hemp products, and a new Cannabinoid Hemp
Products Advisory Committee would be established.

“Over the past six months, American farmers, veterans, consumers, and the
broader domestic supply chain have been put at risk—not by science, but by
misguided rhetoric, fear-based narratives, and competing interests that
failed to serve the public good,” Edibles.com Executive Vice President
Thomas Winstanley said in a press release. “This legislation marks a
meaningful course correction.”

“At a time when consensus in Washington is rare, the bipartisan support
behind this effort speaks volumes,” he said. “It reflects both the
importance of these products to millions of Americans and a shared
recognition that smart, balanced regulation can protect public health while
strengthening domestic agriculture and economic opportunity.”

Meanwhile, alcohol retailers recently came together to encourage Congress
to delay the enactment of the law Trump signed to federally recriminalize
hemp-derived THC beverages and other products.

The coalition is calling on lawmakers to pass recently introduced
legislation, the Hemp Planting Predictability Act, that would 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 regulatory compromise.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer
(R-KY), who is cosponsoring the proposal, appeared at a press conference
last week 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 law 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 text of the HEMP Act below:*

The post New Bipartisan Congressional Bill Would Regulate Hemp Products, In
Contrast To Ban Trump Signed appeared first on Marijuana Moment.