A federal ban on most hemp-derived THC products is expected to go into effect towards the end of 2026. That could put the kibosh on the most profitable market for hemp farmers.
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Growing and buying hemp has been legal in the U.S. for eight years now, ever since Congress passed the 2018 farm bill. Hemp is a type of cannabis plant, but it’s far less intoxicating than marijuana, and it’s used in textiles and construction products. But the bill had an unintended consequence – it created a booming market for products like hemp-derived THC gummies and drinks. Advocates say a move that lawmakers took last year to make those products illegal could decimate a thriving industry. Harvest Public Media’s Molly Ashford reports.
MOLLY ASHFORD, BYLINE: At Sweetwater Hemp Company in rural Nebraska, raw hemp from nearby farms arrives by the super sack.
BRETT MAYO: So this is bucked dry CBD flower.
ASHFORD: The plant is trimmed, frozen and then put through an ice water extraction process to create the concentrate, which is then put into edibles, oils and other products. Most of these products contain CBD, a nonintoxicating compound present in cannabis, and some contain THC, which allows some products to mimic the psychoactive effects of marijuana. When Congress passed a bill last year ending the long budget shutdown, it included a provision to close the so-called hemp loophole, which legalized the sale of intoxicating THC products that are derived from hemp. Unless Congress changes that provision, Sweetwater’s chief extraction officer Brett Mayo says the vast majority of the company’s products will become illegal under the new law, which is set to take effect near the end of the year.
MAYO: The federal hemp bill would basically eliminate full-spectrum products.
ASHFORD: That means products that include all of the compounds in hemp, including low levels of THC.
MAYO: You would be working with, like, broad-spectrum products, which – no THC, which with my process, you can’t do.
ASHFORD: The new provision does allow THC to be present in products, but it caps the amount at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. Jonathan Miller is an attorney for the advocacy group U.S. Hemp Roundtable.
JONATHAN MILLER: That would encompass 95% of the hemp extract industry, 95% products. Even the vast majority of nonintoxicating CBD products have more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container.
ASHFORD: Miller says the hemp-derived THC industry in the U.S. is worth more than $28 billion. He says thousands of jobs would be wiped out if the restrictions go into effect as written. So why the changes? Katharine Harris says when lawmakers federally legalized hemp eight years ago, they didn’t intend to create a market for intoxicating products. Harris is a drug policy fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. She says Congress limited the amount of delta-9-THC in hemp products to 0.3% by dry weight.
KATHARINE HARRIS: Many people in Congress probably assumed that as long as they stuck to that limit, that 0.3% delta-9 threshold, that they would not be legalizing an intoxicating substance. What we have now seen is that that is wrong.
ASHFORD: Now, bars and liquor stores sell hemp THC beverages as an alcohol alternative. In states like Nebraska and Texas, where marijuana remains recreationally illegal, makeshift dispensaries sell hemp-derived THC flower and delta-9 gummies that are legal.
HARRIS: With a weight-based threshold, that means that you can have heavier products like drinks and edibles that have higher amounts of delta-9-THC that are derived from hemp but are still under that 0.3% threshold.
ASHFORD: The impending ban is a threat to the hemp industry, but Mayo of Sweetwater Hemp says he’s optimistic that changes will be made so his business can survive.
MAYO: I don’t think it’s going to be eliminated. It’s just not feasible that you’re going to get rid of, you know, a multibillion-dollar business and the taxes and everything that it brings in.
ASHFORD: Lawmakers have proposed changes, and President Donald Trump issued an executive order in December that hemp advocates see as promising. It orders executive departments and agencies to develop regulations for hemp-derived THC products and expand research into them. For NPR News, I’m Molly Ashford in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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