The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee has unveiled a new version of the U.S. Farm Bill that would shut down an out-of-control market for intoxicating hemp products by banning non-industrial uses of hemp.
Provisions in the 1,400-page draft measure could finally close a loophole created in the landmark 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp and all downstream products federally, but failed to account for the possibility that “high”-producing substances could be cooked up from hemp-derived CBD in the lab.
That gap gave free rein to renegade producers of the intoxicating products – and the dodgy suppliers who trade in the hemp-derived CBD that is the base material for most of the substances.
Two years delayed
The draft was published Monday by Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat. Originally the 2023 Farm Bill, the agriculture omnibus legislation was delayed last year, and is not expected to get consideration until after the 119th Congress convenes in January.
According to the bill’s direct language, ‘‘The term ‘industrial hemp’ means the plant Cannabis sativa L. if the harvested material is only (i) the stalks of that plant, fiber produced from those stalks, or any other manufactured product, derivative, mixture, or preparation of those stalks (except cannabinoid resin extracted from those stalks); (ii) whole grain, oil, cake, nut, hull, or any other compound, manufactured product, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the seeds of that plant (except cannabinoid resin extracted from the seeds of that plant); (iii) viable seeds of that plant produced solely for production or manufacture of any material described in clause (i) or (ii).”
To fall under the definition of “industrial hemp,” material harvested explicitly ‘‘will not be used in the manufacturing or synthesis of natural or synthetic cannabinoid products,’’ according to the draft bill.
By also redefining legal hemp to include “total THC” content, the Senate bill seeks to restrict such products while sharpening federal hemp laws. The new bill would retain the maximum THC level for industrial hemp at 0.3%, but that threshold would apply to all forms of THC in industrial hemp combined, and not just delta-9 as in the original Farm Bill. In addition to trace amounts of delta-9 THC, hemp plants also carry very low amounts of THCA, and delta-8 and delta-10 forms of THC.
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