Virginia Hemp Businesses Consider How To Pivot With Federal Ban Looming

*“It’s a bad situation for a lot of hemp growers and processors and
retailers.”*

*By Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury*

Richmond-based Bingo Beer legally joined a nationally-growing market
for hemp-derived THC products earlier this year when it unveiled THC
seltzers.

The nonalcoholic beverage option has been growing nationwide as an
alternative for people who are looking to cut back or cut out alcohol
altogether. A recent Gallup poll showed the percentage of Americans
drinking alcohol has fallen to 54 percent.

Analysts and farmers say the hemp-based THC industry, however, could come
to an abrupt halt by November of next year as Congress voted to ban most
hemp-derived THC products in a last-minute addition to a government
spending bill that ended the most recent government shutdown.

The THC seltzers and other hemp-based products are a “big and growing
segment of the economy,” Bingo Beer co-owner Jay Bayer told the Mercury
earlier this year.

“I don’t think the solution is to put the genie back in the bottle,” Bayer
said in a recent call. He added that offering THC products has been a
“lifeline” for some in the alcoholic beverage industry to stay afloat while
meeting consumers’ needs.

But as Virginia continues to explore a legal cannabis market, Bayer is
eyeing possible ways to pivot.

“If we were to switch over to THC from marijuana, consumers would come over
with us,” he said.
*Uncertain future*

Hemp businesses nationwide are trying to map their next steps. In North
Carolina, for example, hemp businesses are bracing for potential legal
battles to defend their industry, like other states where cannabis isn’t
legal.

“We can’t really pivot,” Dana Burham, co-owner of Otherside Hemp, told NC
Newsline last month.

But Virginia is in a “privileged” space, Pure Shenandoah co-owner Tanner
Johnson said in a recent call. He runs the company with several of his
siblings as their products run the gamut of industrial hemp uses, from a
“hempcrete” study contract with the U.S. Air Force they were awarded in
2023, to being the supplier for Bingo Beer’s THC seltzers.

While Congress laid the groundwork for businesses in the industry in 2018,
Johnson likened the hemp-limited provision in the government spending bill
as “pulling the rug” from under people. But companies like his own with
diversified portfolios and Virginia businesses could have an easier time
pivoting than those in states with no existing or forthcoming legal
cannabis market. Still, he said, he’s keeping an eye on things nationally.

As a representative of the Virginia Cannabis Association, he will also
lend insights and ideas to lawmakers as they craft and pass the legislation
to enable the new market.

“It’s a bad situation for a lot of hemp growers and processors and
retailers,” Johnson said. “But in Virginia, we kind of feel like we’re
almost threading a needle, where this industry is coming to a close right
as another industry opens.”

*This story was first published by Virginia Mercury.*

*Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.*

The post Virginia Hemp Businesses Consider How To Pivot With Federal Ban
Looming appeared first on Marijuana Moment.