U.S. Senate leaders have included provisions to delay the planned federal recriminalization of hemp THC products in a key new spending bill.
Industry advocates believe the move will give them more time to convince Congress to enact comprehensive regulations to effectively regulate, rather than prohibit, the products.
Hemp derivatives with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill that President Donald Trump signed during his first term in office. But late last year, the president signed new legislation containing provisions that will redefine hemp to make it so only products with 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container will remain legal after November 12.
On Sunday, leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a bill to extend funding for federal agencies through December 11, past the end of the current fiscal year on September 30.
Included in the legislation are provisions that will also delay the planned prohibition on most hemp products until December 11—although there is a carve-out that will allow the immediately recriminalization on November 12 of synthetic cannabinoids “that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant.”
Last month, the House of Representatives passed its own version of the continuing resolution to keep federal agencies funded, but it did not have any provisions to alter the planned hemp product ban. As such, if the Senate passes its new provision it would then still need approval by the other chamber before being sent to the president.
“As Mark Twain might have said, ‘The reports of hemp’s death have been greatly exaggerated.’ Passage of the continuing resolution (CR) in its current form would be a landmark victory for the hemp industry—our biggest win since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp,” Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, said in a press release.
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