Politics
GOP Senator Pushes To Study—Rather Than Ban—Hemp Products, As State Attorneys General Call For THC Prohibition
As bicameral lawmakers work to reach a deal on provisions for federal spending legislation, including how to settle an increasingly contentious debate about hemp products, competing interests are making their voices heard on how they think Congress should handle the issue.
To that end, a GOP senator is hoping to replace a proposed ban on hemp THC products with alternate language mandating a study into state regulatory models for consumable cannabinoids, while a group of state attorneys general are taking steps to urge Republican leadership to move ahead with an outright prohibition on intoxicating products.
While the House has not yet passed its version of the agriculture spending bill, the Senate version was combined into a so-called minibus with appropriations legislation that also covers defense and the legislative branch. Last month, House leadership requested a conference committee and appointed negotiators, despite not having advanced its own companion bill through the chamber.
The Senate hasn’t appointed its conferees, and no formal meetings have taken place so far, but it’s reported that appropriators have been informally discussing relevant issues. And one GOP senator is angling to get ahead of the negotiations around hemp.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)—a longstanding champion of cannabis reform who previously blocked a hemp ban from being included in an agriculture appropriations bill passed by the Senate earlier this year—is circulating legislative language, obtained by Marijuana Moment, that he’s asking to be adopted as part of the final package.
It would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to study “best practices” for regulating intoxicating cannabinoid products and submit a report on its findings to Congress.
Here’s the full language:
“SEC.____. STUDY ON HEMP BEST PRACTICES.
Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with States, shall conduct, and submit to Congress a report on the results of, a study on best practices of States relating to regulation of hemp-derived products for home and personal use.”
Marijuana Moment reached out to Paul’s office for comment, but a representative was not immediately available.
The agriculture appropriations measure the Senate passed as part of a package over the summer initially contained provisions hemp industry stakeholders said would effectively eradicate the market by banning consumable hemp products with any “quantifiable” amount of THC. But after the measure came out of committee, Paul threatened to hold up its passage over the issue, and the language was removed.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who ushered in the federal legalization of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill, championed the THC criminalization language and took to the floor to criticize those who opposed the ban, including Paul.
McConnell isn’t the only one vying for a renewed prohibition. A group of state attorneys general is circulating a draft letter addressed to GOP leaders in the House and Senate Appropriations and Agriculture committees that calls for the inclusion of the ban because, they say, the currently Farm Bill “wrongly exploited by bad actors to sell recreational synthetic THC products across the country.”
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The draft document omits the names of the signatories, but the content cites data from Indiana—and the Republican state attorney general there, Todd Rokita, previously led a separate letter with 20 of his counterparts from other states urging Congress to take action on intoxicating cannabinoid products.
“We ask that Congress clarify the federal definition of hemp during the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations process or through the reauthorization of the Farm Bill to leave no doubt that these harmful products are illegal and that their sale and manufacture are criminal acts,” the new draft letter, obtained by Marijuana Moment, says.
Hemp industry stakeholders “have nefariously misinterpreted the Farm Bill’s legalization of low concentrations of hemp-derived delta-9 and the Bill’s silence regarding hemp-derived THC products other than delta-9 to claim that the Farm Bill allows them to produce and sell various synthetic cannabinoids regardless of the chemicals’ potency and psychoactive effects,” it says. “In this way, legal, nonintoxicating hemp is used to make Frankenstein THC products that get adults high and harm and even kill children.”
“We commend your commitment to American farmers and your work to create an orderly and well-regulated market for industrial hemp and non-intoxicating hemp-derived products. You should not allow irresponsible corporations to take advantage of your good work to purvey dangerous products in our States. We ask Congress to act decisively to clarify the Farm Bill’s definition of hemp to ensure intoxicating THC products are taken off the market.”
Rokita’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Marijuana Moment.
The House agriculture spending bill, as approved by the Appropriations Committee, included provisions banning consumable hemp products with any “quantifiable” amount of THC, though it has not been taken up on the floor.
Hemp stakeholders are unsure where the issue will land as lawmakers attempt to finalize appropriations legislation, but they’re calling on supporters to contact their representatives and make their opposition to a blanket ban clear.
“The truth is that no one really knows what any final draft would look like, and it is equally uncertain as to whether a minibus itself will see the light of day,” the U.S. Hemp Roundtable said in an email blast.
“If you have not yet alerted your customers, associates, friends and social media contacts that the prospects of a hemp ban are real, NOW IS THE TIME,” it says. “We have an opportunity to kill this, but we are running out of time.”
Meanwhile, Paul recently filed a standalone bill that would go in the opposite direction of the hemp ban, proposing to triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.
The senator introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, in June. It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.
Read the text of the state attorneys general draft letter on hemp below:
Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.
