Politics
Dr. Oz Asks Senators To Delay Hemp Product Ban So Seniors Can Get CBD Products Covered Through Medicare
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is asking U.S. senators to reject an amendment that would keep a forthcoming ban on hemp products on track to take effect in November.
“Passage of this amendment would undo significant gains that have been made to make clinically-appropriate full-spectrum hemp-derived CBD accessible to the senior citizens and individuals with disabilities that rely on the Medicare program for their healthcare,” Oz wrote in a letter to senators.
Hemp derivatives with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill that President Donald Trump signed during his first term in office. But late last year, the president signed new legislation containing provisions that will redefine hemp to make it so only products with 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container will remain legal after November 12.
On Sunday, leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a continuing resolution to extend funding for federal agencies through December 11, past the end of the current fiscal year on September 30. Included in the legislation are provisions that will also delay the planned prohibition on most hemp products until December 11—although there is a carve-out that will allow the immediately recriminalization on November 12 of synthetic cannabinoids “that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant.”
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) and several cosponsors have filed an amendment that seeks to strip the hemp ban delay provisions from the legislation, however, prompting pushback from the White House.
In the new letter, Oz said he has “grave concern” that the amendment would undermine the administration’s initiative to cover up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products each year for eligible Medicare patients. The program focuses largely on CBD but also allows products to have up to 3 milligrams of total THC per serving. A federal judge granted the government’s motion to dismiss marijuana legalization opponents’ lawsuit challenging the initiative, but that is being appealed.
“Above all, we must ensure that our policies and procedures are not inhibiting access to items and services that are helping patients manage the agony caused by insidious diseases like cancer, debilitating seizure disorders, and other chronic pain.”
“In recent months, CMS has taken historic action to not only expand access to full-spectrum CBD, but do so in a way that ensures expanded access drives value for both patients and the Medicare program,” Oz wrote to senators. “We began this exercise with a simple principle: if an entity is accepting financial risk for the health of patients, they should have expanded flexibilities to invest in new care delivery models that they believe may help the health of those patients for whom they are financially at-risk.”
“This is why, through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) we created critical flexibilities in three programs for risk-bearing medical entities to offer hemp products to improve symptom control. As a result, healthcare providers participating in the ACO Reach Model, the Enhancing Oncology Model, and the Long-term Enhance ACO Design (LEAD) Model will be able to offer coverage for up to $500 worth of hemp products each year, should those providers determine such coverage helps those patients. Similarly, we expanded the ability of Medicare Advantage plans to offer hemp-derived CBD products through special supplemental benefits for the chronically ill.”
“As I have previously stated, CMS is committed to innovation that meets patients where they are while maintaining strong safeguards and clinical oversight,” the letter says. “It is for this reason that I am asking you to oppose S. Amendment 6733, which would rip away from millions of seniors and disabled Americans the opportunity to benefit from these new programs.”
Oz said that officials “remain focused on preventing dangerous products from reaching Americans,” telling senators that they have his “commitment to continue to work with you on meeting our shared goals of ensuring patient access and protection of the public health.”
Budd, for his part, argued in a Senate floor speech on Wednesday that widespread availability of intoxicating hemp products in states across the country is a “public health crisis” that threatens the lives of children, harms the workforce and undermines military readiness.
“The intoxicating hemp industry wants to make a cheap dollar,” the senator said. “I am appalled at the well-oiled, slick lobbying machine, which is very well connected in this town, by the way, that has chosen to wage this surreptitious war against our efforts to protect American children.”
Budd’s amendment garnered a lengthly list of cosponsors, including Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), James Lankford (R-OK), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mike Rounds (R-SD), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), among other senators.
Several sources told Marijuana Moment this week that Trump personally called Budd in an attempt to get him to back off the push to keep the hemp ban on track for November, but a spokesperson for the senator later clarified that there was “not an explicit ask made to Sen. Budd to drop the amendment” by the president.
The spokesperson said that the hemp issue “certainly came up” during what he described as a “very friendly” discussion between Budd and Trump that also touched on number of other topics.
Separately, the White House pushed back on the idea that the president’s support for keeping hemp products legal is intended to benefit the son-in-law of Trump’s chief of staff, who owns businesses in the industry—with a spokesperson saying that the administration’s advocacy is in “the best interest of the American people” and is aimed at helping veterans and other people who use hemp products for medical purposes.
During a “tense” meeting with Senate Republicans about the issue on Wednesday, White House Director of Legislative Affairs James Braid reportedly committed that there would be no further extensions of the hemp ban’s effective date if the current proposal was enacted into law.
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Also this week, dueling coalitions of police, military veterans and industry groups sent letters pushing Congress in different directions on whether the planned federal recriminalization of hemp THC products should move forward as scheduled or be delayed.
Additionally, a bipartisan coalition of 35 state and territory attorneys general sent a letter calling on Congress not to reverse the hemp THC product ban, saying that lawmakers’ move to enact the forthcoming prohibition “protected consumers, provided much-needed regulatory clarity, and preserved legitimate industrial, agricultural, and nonintoxicating hemp markets.”
In June, the House of Representatives passed its own version of a continuing resolution to keep federal agencies funded into December, but it did not have any provisions to alter the planned hemp product ban.
Meanwhile, a number of lawmakers from both chambers and both parties have filed or are circulating a growing number of bills to prevent the scheduled federal recriminalization of hemp THC drinks and other products later this year. Until now, none of those proposals have gained traction with congressional leaders.
For example, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is circulating legislation that would delay a planned federal ban on hemp THC products and institute some regulations—including packaging requirements, testing rules and age limits.
Separately, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), filed a lengthier proposal to prevent the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products and put in place a number of regulations for manufacturing, labeling, sales and taxation of hemp-derived products, including an age limit of 21.
Trump and White House officials have in recent weeks repeatedly pressed Congress to delay, alter or reverse the ban.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in June, for example, White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought said the Trump administration wants lawmakers to “ensure the fair treatment of hemp products”—specifically citing Barr’s earlier amendment to keep many hemp products legal while adding regulations and taxes.
The administration “welcomes the opportunity to work with the Congress to, at a minimum, update the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products to allow Americans to benefit from access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products,” OMB separately said in June, “while preserving the Congress’s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose serious health risks.”
Also in April, the president himself urged congressional lawmakers to again redefine hemp to avoid recriminalization of full-spectrum CBD products.
“I am calling on Congress to update the Law to ensure that Americans can continue to access the full-spectrum CBD products they have come to rely on, and that help them, while preserving Congress’s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose Health risks,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“We must get this done RIGHT and FAST, especially for those who saw that CBD helps them,” he said. “Plus, I am told it will also help our GREAT FARMERS, who we love, and will always be there for.”
Industry advocates say that the law as enacted last year not only threatens to prohibit intoxicating and synthetic cannabinoid products but also stands to remove popular full-spectrum CBD products that many Americans use therapeutically from the market.
“ONE in FIVE adults used it in the past year, and many say it improved their chronic pain enormously,” the president said in his social media post, adding that hemp-derived CBD “has made a HUGE difference for so many people.”
“In December, I signed a very important Executive Order calling for Research and Innovation for Hemp-derived CBD,” Trump said. “Our wonderful Dr. Mehmet Oz moved fast to follow the directive in the Executive Order, and launched a model for some Seniors earlier this month. But more must be done!”
“Please get it done, and SOON,” the president said in reference to a congressional fix for the broad recriminalization set to take effect in November. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Read Oz’s hemp letter to senators below:
