When Donald Trump recently re-tweeted a CBD hype video, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable (USHR) moved fast. Within days, the group sent a fawning letter assuming the voice of “the hemp industry,” whispering through Dear Leader’s fuzzy ear, into the void.
But what USHR represents today isn’t hemp. It’s mostly a gray-market business in sketchy, synthetic THC substances, built on a leaky regulatory system. It’s an ugly baby, born of greed and cynicism.
At the heart of USHR are CBD producers, many of whom feed the intoxicating hemp sector downstream. Several of them are now directly selling intoxicating hemp products: delta-8 and hemp-derived delta-9 THC edibles, vapes, and drinks that deliver recreational doses of synthetic THC as they pass through a loophole in the original 2018 “Hemp Farm Bill.”
Intoxicating hemp has become the economic engine of the CBD sector (and no doubt the USHR). We’ve written about it — and warned about it — for years.
‘Dear Sir’
“By signing the 2018 Farm Bill into law, you ushered in a new era for the American hemp industry,” begins the Oct. 6 letter to Trump. “We are grateful and remain hopeful that your influence can save the $28.4 billion hemp industry that you helped make possible.”
While the letter is nauseating on its surface, the more troubling aspect lies in its exaggeration and deliberate sleight of hand. It never once mentions CBD, cannabinoids, or intoxicating products, employing “hemp” exclusively as though the word alone could sanitize the reality USHR is pimping for — a dodgy intoxicant market built on unregulated and potentially dangerous substances and products.
Read more at Hemp Today
