The estimated $28 billion U.S. hemp industry would breathe a sigh of relief – and avoid a looming November deadline for when federal protections are set to expire – if a bipartisan proposal to regulate hemp cannabinoid products introduced Wednesday becomes law.
The Lawful Hemp Protection Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican, and Minnesota Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, would stave off a looming federal hemp THC ban.
It would also allow farmers to cultivate hemp under a higher THC limit than currently allowed.
“Kentucky has demonstrated that hemp can be successfully regulated while supporting farmers and protecting consumers,” Barr said in a press release.
“This legislation builds on that success by creating a national framework that rewards responsible producers, eliminates bad actors, and ensures consumers have confidence in the products they purchase.”
Can Congress save the hemp THC industry?
Hemp operators have been operating from a position of uncertainty all year after a budget deal, signed by President Donald Trump last November, effectively outlawed nearly all hemp-derived cannabinoid products in the U.S.
As MJBizDaily has reported, cannabis operators are also affected, as the hemp ban also criminalizes interstate commerce in most cannabis genetics.
Hemp advocates have spent much of the year lobbying for a reprieve, either in the form of a delay or moratorium on the ban – or, as Barr and Craig proposed, regulations. However, though several proposals have been unveiled, none has advanced to a hearing. And the November deadline is approaching.
According to Barr, the proposal would:
- Raise the legal threshold for when cannabis is classified as “marijuana” under federal law to 1% THC by dry weight, up from 0.3%
- Ban synthetic and non-naturally occurring cannabinoids
- Require “consumable hemp products” to be grown, processed, manufactured and packaged in the U.S.
- Establish age and packaging restrictions to limit sales to adults 21 and older and outlaw “deceptive advertising,” such as packaging that mimics mainstream food products
- Require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to establish “maximum cannabinoid content limits for hemp products” while also setting “fallback limits” if FDA does not act within a year
- Tax hemp-derived THC products at a rate of 5 cents per milligram of THC in beverages and 5% “of the retail price on all other consumables that contain THC.”
What do the alcohol and regulated cannabis industries think about hemp THC?
According to Barr’s office, the proposal is supported by alcohol interests as well as hemp farmers. The former includes national liquor chain Total Wine & Spirits, which carries hemp THC beverages.
But the proposal also promises to reopen the rift between hemp-derived THC and state-regulated cannabis.
Cannabis industry lobbyists pledged Wednesday to fight the bill.
“Congress overwhelmingly voted in November to close the loophole that allowed synthetic THC products to proliferate across the nation, often without regulation and available to minors,” Cory Harris, lobbyist for the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH), said in a statement to MJBizDaily.
“Unfortunately, Rep. Barr is trying to reopen the matter with a proposal that would protect synthetic drugs, so long as they’re derived from hemp,” he added.
“Congress doesn’t want to legalize knock-off marijuana and synthetic THC, and that’s exactly what Rep. Barr’s new bill would do.”
