The now infamous ‘hemp killing’ amendment has been added to a second key piece of legislation by the government which stands accused of ‘turning their backs on farmers, veterans, and small businesses’.
Yesterday (Monday, June 10), the House Appropriations Subcommittee for the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Related Agencies published the FY 25 Agriculture/FDA Appropriations bill.
Just one day before the bill is scheduled to be voted on (Tuesday, June 11), it was revealed that the ‘Mary Miller’ amendment has now been included in this bill also.
Late last month, Business of Cannabis reported that the amendment, designed to regulate the flourishing intoxicating hemp industry, had been added to the Farm Bill via a procedural tactic whereby all amendments were passed as a block, meaning there was no chance to vote on each amendment individually.
The amendment in question contains language that would effectively ban most consumable hemp-derived cannabinoid products, including delta-8 THC and CBD items containing any ‘quantifiable’ amount of THC.
According to the US Hemp Roundtable, a similar tactic has been used to shoehorn the amendment, set to wipe out 90-95% of the country’s hemp industry, into the Agriculture/FDA Appropriations bill, which funds all agriculture programs.
Jonathan Miller, General Council of the US Hemp Roundtable, said: “It is deeply disappointing that Rep. Andy Harris has inserted the now-infamous, hemp-industry-destroying Mary Miller Amendment within the FY 25 Agriculture/FDA Appropriation bill – without any hearing, any consultation with US farmers or any vote from subcommittee members.
“Contrary to advocate pronouncements that their goal is ‘to close the Delta-8 THC loophole,’ the Mary Miller Amendment would ban 90-95% of all ingestible hemp products in the marketplace — including the vast majority of non-intoxicating, wellness-improving CBD supplements – while wreaking havoc for US hemp farmers, including fiber and grain, by redefining hemp in a matter that would make most crops non-compliant with a new THC standard.”
Despite this ‘disappointment’, Miller once again stated that the battle is far from over, and that his organization ‘will be asking the full Appropriations Committee to excise the Mary Miller Amendment from the final text’.
“And of course, we will be fighting efforts on the House floor and in the Senate to include this hemp-killing language in any bill, be it appropriations or the Farm Bill. In the end, we are confident that once Members of Congress are briefed on the full implications of this effort, they will stand on the side of farmers, small businesses and veterans, and reject it.”
