Rand Paul Files Bill To Triple Federal THC Limit For Hemp As House Pursues Crackdown On Consumable Cannabinoids

As the hemp industry raises concerns about congressional attempts to ban
most consumable cannabinoid products, a GOP senator has filed a bill that
would triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain,
while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about
federal regulations.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic
Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, last week. It mirrors versions he’s sponsored
over the last several sessions.

Hemp and its derivatives were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, but the
industry has experienced multiple setbacks in the years since—and the
proliferation of intoxicating cannabinoid products has led to pushes in
Congress and state legislatures across the country to reign in the largely
unregulated market.

To that point, a GOP-led House committee this week approved a spending bill
containing provisions that hemp stakeholders say would devastate the
industry, prohibiting most consumable cannabinoid products that were
federally legalized during the first Trump administration.

The legislation would “effectively” criminalize hemp-derived cannabinoid
products, including CBD, according to a Congressional Research Service
(CRS) report.

In contrast, the newly reintroduced measure from Paul would address one of
the most common complaints that lawmakers have heard from hemp businesses
under the current law, which is that the crop is federally defined as
containing no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight. They say that’s too
low, and so the bill would increase that threshold to 1 percent.

It would also address potential problems with testing requirements under
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations. Hemp processors
currently get a 15-day window to test the crop’s flower to ensure that the
THC concentration is within the allowed limits. But testing flower can be
onerous and farmers have said it would stretch their resources thin, not to
mention that the plant’s THC is significantly impacted by external factors.

To fix that issue, the bill calls for final hemp products themselves to be
tested, rather than the initial flower from the plant.

The legislation also sets documentation requirements for people
transporting hemp shipments, intended to prevent further instances of law
enforcement seizing the legal crop, believing it to be illicit marijuana.
The bill expands the type of documentation that people could possess to
demonstrate product legality.

Whereas the initial version of Paul’s measure filed in 2020 would have
required them to carry a certificate from a lab demonstrating that the
product contains no more than 1 percent THC, they could now instead choose
to simply bring a copy of the hemp producer’s license.

While stakeholders would welcome the senator’s proposal, there’s also
significant anxiety within the industry about the separate legislation that
would significantly upend the hemp market that’s developed over the last
several years.

While report language attached to the 2026 appropriations bill was recently
amended to clarify lawmakers’ intent not to disrupt the non-intoxicating
cannabinoid market—signaling that products like CBD shouldn’t be banned—the
legislation itself hasn’t changed and could still jeopardize the industry
without further amendments to its provisions.

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.

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.

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 the new spending bill that would put much of the hemp
industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products derived from the
plant.


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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.

*Read the text of the HEMP Act below:*

Marijuana Opponents ‘Have Lost’ The Debate, GOP Senator Says, Arguing ‘It’s
Time’ To Regulate It Like Alcohol And Tobacco

*Photo courtesy of Max Pixel.*

The post Rand Paul Files Bill To Triple Federal THC Limit For Hemp As House
Pursues Crackdown On Consumable Cannabinoids appeared first on Marijuana
Moment.