Is the US Hemp Ban Punishing the Wrong People?

This article was written for Business of Cannabis by Scott Mazza, Co-Founder of Vitality CBD and Certified Headies

Uncertainty isn’t what hemp needs right now. Just as the market for legal hemp-derived cannabinoids is maturing, peer-reviewed research is flourishing, and serious brands are raising the bar, the upcoming federal ban threatens to kill the industry’s momentum.

After the midnight passage of a policy rewrite that would eliminate 95% of the current market, we’re facing down the barrel of an entirely new landscape within six months. Worse, the vast majority of operators, farmers, and consumers are doing the right thing but finding themselves in the crosshairs of prohibition. This change punishes the wrong people and threatens to undo almost a decade of hemp progress.

Nonetheless, most insiders believe that regulation rather than a full ban is on the horizon. If that’s the case, we need to rewrite the rulebook to ensure a better, safer market with higher production standards – centred around the producers who are leading by example.

A small rule change with big repercussions

Producers (like me) are concerned about the blanket policy because it could make countless hemp-derived cannabinoid products illegal. 

Tucked away in the spending bill to end last year’s federal government shutdown, lawmakers included language that finished hemp products would be capped at a maximum of 0.4 mg of total THC per consumer container – a far cry from the 0.3% THC by dry weight standard. 

This is a small rule change with big repercussions. Consider that full-spectrum CBD naturally contains trace concentrations of Delta-9 THC. This adds up across a full container with our own third-party tested tincture containing about 40mg THC per unit – 100 times the incoming limit. Additionally, lawmakers passed bans on any cannabinoid synthesised outside the plant, clearly targeting compounds like Delta-8 THC. Altogether, this change could wipe out the vast majority of the hemp market, a $28 billion industry that supports more than 300,000 jobs.

Raw hemp prices are already down because processors and manufacturers aren’t sure what will happen and don’t want to end up with a potentially unusable crop. Farmers are also in limbo, unsure whether seeding hemp is a viable business going forward. And producers are caught between wanting to improve their product and investing more into a business that might not be here by the year’s end.

A maturing market under threat

All of this is a shame because hemp is in a moment of genuine momentum. Rather than CBD energy drinks at gas stations, mature operators are cornering a wellness market that takes hemp seriously. Consumers using CBD for better sleep are much more interested in quality markers like organic production and independent testing, creating a positive feedback loop that elevates best practices, fosters some level of market self-regulation, and weeds out bad actors.

And the science increasingly backs us up. Thanks to Farm Bill 2018’s removal of red tape, labs are confirming the anecdotal and reporting hemp’s myriad benefits across anxiety, inflammation, and more. This also helps us fight the argument that CBD isolate will still be legal come November. Those aren’t actually better products and, thanks again to more relaxed regulations, we now know that full-spectrum extraction containing multiple parts of the plant unlocks “the entourage effect” for stronger therapeutic outcomes.

None of this is to say hemp is perfect. Too many operators cut corners on organic practices or mislabel potency. Cowboys chasing a quick buck are still pushing out subpar and potentially dangerous products. But the answer isn’t a restrictive blanket threshold that fails to differentiate between good and bad producers. Otherwise, we risk treating a five-year quality operation identically to someone who launched last month, selling untested gummies.

The revised federal position essentially kneecaps an industry that’s grown to support hundreds of thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars, a reality that’s both politically and practically difficult to sustain. We’re already seeing some lawmakers float a two-year extension. November 12 is shaping up as a forcing function, the moment that finally compels Congress to write rules for hemp.

Build the rules around the right people

Real regulation starts with compliance expectations that are actually enforced. The Hemp Enforcement, Modernization, and Protection (HEMP) Act was proposed in January with oversight by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An actual government watchdog like this can quickly remove products that contain pesticides or heavy metals.

Likewise, backed by regular testing and a history of compliance, there’s a basis for a federal seal of hemp quality. This visible, consumer-facing mark could reward operators with organic certification, accurate labelling, and transparent testing. This is how every other established consumer goods category works.

Finally, any future framework should be dosage-based rather than blanket. This is because the 0.4mg finished-product cap makes no distinction between a sleep aid and a high-dose intoxicant. They’re different products for different consumers and the rules should reflect that.

Prohibition answers the wrong question. Instead, we need to protect rather than punish the operators, farmers, and consumers driving this emerging wellness segment. If politicians want to reshape this industry, they need to do it with good-faith discussions, science-based decision-making, and the stakeholders who have already proven they can do it right.