A GOP senator is threatening to hold up a major spending bill unless changes are made to provisions that would currently ban most consumable hemp products, which stakeholders say would decimate the industry.
Multiple sources familiar with discussions around the legislation tell Marijuana Moment that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is intent on preventing the outright ban that was included in the Senate’s agriculture appropriations bill that advanced out of committee and now awaits floor action.
The prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Action sent out an alert to its supporters on Friday, urging them to contact their representatives to push back against Paul’s efforts.
“The United States Senate is poised to overwhelmingly pass legislation banning hemp intoxicants, but Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is holding the bill hostage until he kills the hemp language,” it said. “Senator Paul wants to create a carve out for THC products like hemp beverages, in effect legalizing marijuana federally.”
While one source indicated that the senator was primarily focused on creating a carveout for hemp-derived THC beverages, two others who are aware of the conversations told Marijuana Moment that wasn’t the case. The exact scope of what Paul is aiming to achieve is unclear, but they say the senator is seeking a more holistic change to the controversial hemp language in the bill.
Marijuana Moment reached out to Paul’s office for comment, but a representative was not immediately available.
Under the legislation that advanced through the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month, consumable hemp products with any “quantifiable” amount of THC would be banned.
Paul told Marijuana Moment late last month that the proposal—which largely mirrors provisions of a House version of the spending bill, championed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)—would “completely destroy” the industry.
On Wednesday, the Senate adopted a motion to proceed to consideration of a House-passed appropriations bill that is being used as the vehicle to advance Senate language on the agriculture legislation and other separate spending measures.
One source told Marijuana Moment that discussions around the hemp language are centered between Paul and his home state colleague, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who advocated for the passage of language in the 2018 Farm Bill that federally legalized hemp and its derivatives.
Despite his work on the issue, McConnell is said to be behind the restrictive cannabis language, vying to redefine his legacy by recriminalizing intoxicating cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC.
On the House side, while Harris amended report language attached to the chamber’s bill clarifying that it’s not the intent to stop people from accessing “industrial or non-intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products with trace or insignificant amounts of THC,” the bill itself still says that products containing any “quantifiable” amounts of THC couldn’t be marketed. And it’s rare to find CBD items without any natural traces of THC.
Paul recently filed a bill that would go in the opposite direction of Harris’s ban, proposing to triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.
The senator introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, last week. It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.
Harris, for his part, told Marijuana Moment that he’s not concerned about any potential opposition in the Senate—and he also disputed reports about the scope of what his legislation would do to the industry.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report last month stating that the legislation would “effectively” prohibit hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Initially it said that such a ban would prevent the sale of CBD as well, but the CRS report was updated to exclude that language for reasons that are unclear.
The hemp language is largely consistent with appropriations and agriculture legislation that was introduced, but not ultimately enacted, under the last Congress.
Hemp industry stakeholders rallied against that proposal, an earlier version of which was also included in the base bill from the subcommittee last year. It’s virtually identical to a provision of the 2024 Farm Bill that was attached by a separate committee last May via an amendment from Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), which was also not enacted into law.
A leading alcohol industry association, meanwhile, has called on Congress to dial back language in the House spending bill that would ban most consumable hemp products, instead proposing to maintain the legalization of naturally derived cannabinoids from the crop and only prohibit synthetic items.
Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) President and CEO Francis Creighton said in a press release that “proponents and opponents alike have agreed that this language amounts to a ban.”
Separately, key GOP congressional lawmakers—including one member who supports marijuana legalization—don’t seem especially concerned about provisions in the bill despite concern from stakeholders that it would put much of the hemp industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products derived from the plant.
—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—
Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told congressional lawmakers in April that the market is “begging” for federal regulations around cannabis products.
At the hearing, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) also inquired about FDA inaction around regulations, sarcastically asking if it’d require “a gazillion bureaucrats that work from home” to regulate cannabinoids such as CBD.
A report from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) last year called cannabis a “significant threat” to the alcohol industry, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine.
Last November, meanwhile, a beer industry trade group put out a statement of guiding principles to address what it called “the proliferation of largely unregulated intoxicating hemp and cannabis products,” warning of risks to consumers and communities resulting from THC consumption.
Photo courtesy of Pexels/Kindel Media.
The post GOP Senator Threatens To Block Spending Bill If Hemp THC Product Ban Stays In, Sources Say appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
