A little-known provision in the federal spending bill signed by President Trump is poised to disrupt a fast-growing sector by prohibiting a wide range of THC-infused products. Items such as gummies, beverages, topical pain relievers and vapes, which have become common in gas stations and wellness stores across the country, could now be swept off the shelves under the new measure.
Hemp, which comes from the cannabis plant, was legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill. That move opened a loophole that allowed low-dose THC products to be sold legally, setting the stage for their rapid expansion into the mainstream consumer market.
The new restriction in the spending bill sets a strict limit, barring any product that contains more than 0.4 milligrams of THC in an entire package.
Industry leaders say the fallout could be severe. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable argues that the measure “threatens to eliminate America’s $28.4 billion hemp industry and jeopardizes more than 300,000 American jobs.” The group estimates that the change would erase 95 percent of the market, force small businesses and farms to close across the country, and strip states of about $1.5 billion in tax revenue.
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Sen. Rand Paul attempted to remove the provision by introducing an amendment to strike the language from the Senate version of the bill. His effort quickly failed, as the Senate voted by a wide margin to set his amendment aside.
Paul argued that the move “couldn’t come at a worse time for America’s farmers,” telling colleagues on the Senate floor that the measure would “eradicate the hemp industry.”
A hemp farmer named Stacy, who runs a small company in Woodstock, Illinois, called into the Washington Journal on C-SPAN to describe how the measure would upend her livelihood. She said the joint and muscle salve she produces, which “doesn’t get anybody high – it’s a topical product,” would no longer be allowed under the new restrictions, leaving her business with little chance to survive. “They sneak that in and crush the industry. My business is completely over,” she said.
“I have one year to wind this business down and nobody is talking about the hundreds of thousands of people, farmers, processors, retail stores. This is going to have incredible ripple effects across the economy.”
Supporters of the measure say the crackdown is necessary. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a senior member of both the Agriculture and Appropriations Committees, contends that some companies have “exploited” the loophole created in 2018 by “taking legal amounts of THC from hemp and turning it into intoxicating substances.”
That view is shared by dozens of state attorneys general, who sent a letter to Congress last month warning that the 2018 Farm Bill has been “wrongly exploited by bad actors to sell recreational synthetic THC products across the country.” They argued that the loophole has enabled the “rapid growth of an underregulated industry that threatens public health and safety and undermines law enforcement nationwide.”
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable counters that the restriction would sweep up the vast majority of products that are not designed to intoxicate. The group says more than 90 percent of non-intoxicating hemp items contain more than 0.4 milligrams per container, meaning seniors, veterans and others who use them for pain relief or sleep would suddenly be forced to break federal law to access them, “disrupting their care and leaving them scrambling for potentially harmful alternatives.”