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The hemp THC ban has been delayed to December 11, giving Congress more time to consider regulating impairing hemp products instead of banning them.
The hemp THC ban has been delayed from November 12 to December 11, giving Congress more time to consider regulating impairing hemp products rather than banning them. The delay was signed by President Donald Trump last month. The ban would limit THC in hemp products to 0.4 milligrams per container. In a commercial kitchen outside Raleigh, North Carolina, Nicholas Hohns spreads a blue-green goo into a gridded mold, making potent THC gummies, one of his company's signature products.
Hemp THC Ban Threatens Industry
The ban threatens to reduce retail revenues by 28.3 billion dollars, displace 225,000 jobs, and reduce state sales tax potential by 2.1 billion dollars, according to a report last month from Whitney Economics. The industry hopes to save itself by restricting impairing products to people 21 and older, limiting how much THC can be in a package, and banning imported cannabis compounds.
Marijuana and hemp are the same plant, cannabis. Marijuana is cultivated for high levels of THC in its flowers. Low-THC hemp has historically been grown for its sturdy fibers, food, or wellness products. Rope, not dope was long the motto of farmers who supported legalizing hemp. But the way the law defined hemp, as having less than 0.3 percent of a specific type of THC called delta-9 by weight, allowed for loopholes that led to the sale of intoxicating products.
Some businesses started selling marijuana under the theory that raw marijuana's THC is in a form called THC-A, which only turns into impairing delta-9 when heated or burned. The ban would not take effect for a year.
Small Businesses Brace for Impact
Eric Zipperle and Jim Higdon, owners of Kentucky's Cornbread Hemp, are prepared to cap their products at 5 milligrams if that is what it takes to win support from lawmakers. But the 0.4 milligram limit would destroy their business, they said. They have 105 employees, sell hemp beverages in 18 states, and expect to bring in 65 million dollars this year. The 0.4 milligram cap is so low that it would ban even some non-impairing CBD products, such as topical lotions, said Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the industry group U.S. Hemp Roundtable.
Hohns, who runs Deutermann Farms in Clayton, North Carolina, entered the hemp industry after losing his job as a personal trainer during the COVID-19 pandemic. North Carolina has not legalized either medical or recreational marijuana, but many of the edibles Hohns makes are more potent than what is available in states that have. He said he thought he had 18 months to two years to make money in this industry. That was more than four years ago. Hohns kept his capital investments minimal, fearing a shutdown. He has considered making other products, such as creatine gummies, if he has to get out of the hemp THC business.
Things have been more stressful for others. Drinkin' Buds, a cannabis beverage company in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has mothballed production. Co-founder Matt Swanson took himself off the payroll on Thursday.
Support and Opposition for Hemp Ban
Among those who have come to the defense of the hemp industry are alcohol retailers, including Total Wine & More. Sales of cannabis seltzers have helped offset falling alcohol sales. I have sympathy for people losing their jobs, but I also have sympathy for the many, many more people whose lives are affected by this, said Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
The regulated legal marijuana industry, which sees hemp THC as unfair competition, also supports the ban. Cory Harris, a lobbyist for state-legal cannabis operators, suggested that dire predictions about its effect on the intoxicating hemp industry are overstated. While the ban would end interstate sales of products like THC seltzers and gummies, some could find a home in legal in-state markets, he said. It is possible THC drinks could be sold at stores in the states where they were produced. States like North Carolina could adopt legal hemp programs. If you go from having virtually no rules to suddenly having an awful lot of rules, that is a buzzkill, Harris said, adding that if you establish your whole business within a legally questionable loophole, that is just sort of the risk you take.
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