Rhode Island’s US Senators Defend Vote To Ban Hemp...

*“At the urging of the vast majority of the state attorneys general, they
voted to table an amendment to strip this provision.”*

*By Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current*

Mike Simpson is one of Rhode Island’s biggest cheerleaders for hemp
cultivation and the plant’s derivative products—remedies, he believes, that
may help where pharmaceutical medicines cannot.

It’s that very reason Simpson helped co-found Rhode Island’s only outdoor
hemp farm, where he says many of the business’ products ship all across the
country.

But Lovewell Farms may cease operations now that Congress has approved
reopening the federal government under legislation that would effectively
ban hemp products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC. Now that it
has been signed by President Donald Trump, the ban will go into effect in a
year.

“This might be the final straw,” Simpson said in an interview Wednesday. “I
may have to shut my whole company down.”

Simpson doesn’t sell intoxicating products, but said crops grown at his
Hopkinton farm can contain up to 1 milligram of THC in it, as is allowed
under existing Rhode Island hemp regulations.

“I have 700 to 800 pounds of flower that I grew this year that under that
law would not be legal,” he said.

Simpson said he would grow crops with lower concentrations, but as a
USDA-certified organic farm, there aren’t that many seed suppliers he can
buy from.

“We’re really at the whim of what those folks are providing,” he said.

The provision in the shutdown-ending appropriations bill was championed by
GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in order to close a loophole in the
2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp but inadvertently paved the way for the
proliferation of hemp-derived THC products like infused drinks—products
which states have since scrambled to either regulate or ban.

THC drinks derived from hemp were illegal in Rhode Island until August
2024, when the state’s now-defunct Office of Cannabis Regulation began
allowing the sale of products containing low levels of delta-9 THC at
licensed retailers, including vape shops and liquor stores.

The presence of hemp-derived drinks has led to a debate on whether such
drinks should even be legal in Rhode Island. Members of the state’s
recreational cannabis industry for the most part have been against allowing
THC products to be sold outside licensed pot shops.

Since the start of the fiscal year on July 1, regulators in the
newly-established Rhode Island Cannabis Office have crafted recommendations
on dosage limits, packaging standards, labeling requirements, licensing
conditions, and other ways to ensure children don’t accidentally consume
the intoxicating drinks.

Cannabis Control Commission spokesperson Charon Rose said the regulators
are aware of recent federal developments concerning hemp and hemp-derived
products and are monitoring the situation.

“At this time, it is too soon to determine what impact these developments
may have on Rhode Island,” she said in an email. “We remain committed to
keeping stakeholders and the public informed as more information becomes
available.”

But Nicholas Fede Jr., executive director for the Rhode Island Liquor
Operators Collaborative, warns the ban could cause major disruptions in the
growing beverage market. That will especially be the case should the Drug
Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Department of Justice decline to
reclassify cannabis at the federal level. The feds still consider marijuana
a Schedule I drug, meaning it’s subject to the strictest federal controls,
which limit interstate distribution.

“That would upend how it comes to market in our state,” Fede said in an
interview. “All of a sudden we couldn’t take credit cards for these items,
we would have separate bank accounts.”

Fede said the best path forward is to establish clear regulations for
hemp-infused drinks while allowing liquor stores to continue selling them.

“We’ve proven for 100 years we can regulate intoxicating products very
well,” he said.

*A “nefarious misinterpretation”*

Kentucky’s other Republican U.S. senator, Rand Paul, attempted to strip the
last-minute hemp language from the federal funding bill through an
amendment on Monday, but his effort failed on a 76-24 vote.

Rhode Island’s Democratic Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse voted in
favor of McConnell’s restrictions, though their offices noted the senators
ultimately opposed the final budget bill.

“At the urging of the vast majority of the state attorneys general, they
voted to table an amendment to strip this provision,” their offices said in
an emailed statement to Rhode Island Current.

They were referring to a letter sent to key members of Congress in October
by 39 attorneys general, including Rhode Island Attorney General Peter
Neronha, in which they urged lawmakers to close the THC loophole.

“Industry actors have nefariously misinterpreted the Farm Bill’s
legalization of low concentrations of hemp-derived delta-9,” the AGs wrote.
“These products are being sold nationwide without consistent age
restrictions, labeling standards, or safety requirements and are frequently
packaged as gummies, candies, and beverages designed to appeal to young
children.”

By itself, hemp produces little to no THC, the compound most commonly
associated with cannabis intoxication, and is typically non-psychoactive
when first harvested, unlike other cannabis plants.

But its potency can be increased by chemistry. Methods include soaking the
hemp material in a liquid like butane or ethanol, applying enough pressure
and heat to extract delta-8 or delta-9 THC compounds, or exposing the plant
to acid.

“This is not natural,” Stuart Procter, co-founder and lab director for
cannabis testing facility PureVita Labs in West Warwick, said in an
interview. “You cannot trust anything you buy in a shop right now.”

Which is why Procter said he’s in favor of banning psychoactive hemp
products until there are firmer regulations and standards for products.

“The hemp bill was never designed to allow hemp-derived delta-9 THC to be
sold on the open market,” he said.

But Simpson’s interpretation of the 2018 bill is that any rules surrounding
new hemp products are up to the states, which he said Rhode Island did to
ensure safer products.

“We have consumable licensing, products have to go through testing, display
THC amounts,” he said. “If we want a free market economy, and this is open
and available, we shouldn’t be penalizing or punishing the businesses.”

*This story was first published by Rhode Island Current.*

*Photo courtesy of Max Jackson.*

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