An amendment described as ‘devastating’ for the US’ hemp and CBD industries has now been passed and will be part of the draft Farm Bill moving forward.
Yesterday, Business of Cannabis reported that the House Committee on Agriculture was due to vote on a ‘hemp killing’ amendment to the upcoming Farm Bill, which would make hemp products with any amount of THC federally illegal.
During a vote on Thursday (May 23), lawmakers chose to use a procedural tactic whereby all amendments were passed as a block, meaning there was no chance to vote on each amendment individually.
According to the US Hemp Roundtable, they had received assurances from both committee staff and the chairman that they would vote to support the hemp industry, and were confident that a roll-call vote would have garnered a different result.
This amendment, brought by Republican Mary Miller, is designed to regulate the flourishing intoxicating hemp industry.
Compounds like HHC and Delta-8 THC have proliferated across the US in recent months, and while a number of individual states have moved to regulate them, they remain legal and sparsely regulated at a federal level.
However, the amendment to the Farm Bill would also have a major impact on the country’s hemp and CBD industries, making 90-95% of hemp products on the market, including FDA approved animal feed, banned.
We lost today’s battle – the hemp-killing Mary Miller Amendment was added to the Farm Bill via voice vote. The Farm Bill now heads to the House floor. We must stay united. Urge your Representative to vote against it unless this harmful amendment is removed. (link in replies) pic.twitter.com/IiyGw7Vdqx
— US Hemp Roundtable (@HempRoundtable) May 23, 2024
“The passage of the Mary Miller amendment to the Farm Bill would be devastating to the wellness oriented CBD industry as a whole,” Brittany Hallett, Executive Vice President of Marketing, at cannabis retailer Slang Worldwide said.
“These products aren’t about loopholes or getting people high, they’re about safe access to natural wellness. There are certainly loopholes within the hemp space that should be examined but this isn’t the right way to proceed and is a classic example of lobbying gone wrong and being persuaded by big business agendas.”
Despite ‘losing the battle’, the US Hemp Roundtable says the war is still far from over.
“On the ground, our lobbyists and our Board members, working closely with other industry groups — including diligent work from Americans for Healthy Alternatives and the Midwest Hemp Council — held dozens of meetings with committee members who were able to understand the nuances of the issue.
“Three Members of Congress spoke up at the hearing denouncing the amendment,” the group explained in a statement.”
The bill will now be sent to the floor of the House where, according to the group, its passage this year remains ‘unlikely’.
“Even if the House should pass the Farm Bill, the differences between House Republicans and Senate Democrats are considerable at this point. And even if the major issues dividing the parties are resolved, we continue to have many friends in both branches on both sides of the aisle who will work with us to defeat this hemp-killing language.”
