Politics
Rand Paul Is Working To ‘Reach A Compromise’ On Hemp THC Product Laws With McConnell And House Lawmakers
A Republican senator says he has plans to meet with House lawmakers to “reach a compromise” on an approach to regulate hemp in light of his opposition to a proposal in Congress to ban products with any “quantifiable” amount of THC.
Part of that compromise, he said, is to address concerns he and other stakeholders have about vague language that leaves it up to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to determine what constitutes a “quantifiable” amount. Without specifications, the worry it that essentially all consumable cannabinoid products could end up being re-criminalized.
After preventing the ban from being incorporated into a Senate agriculture spending bill passed by the body last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wrote in an op-ed published by The Courier Journal on Thursday that he’s still discussing the issue with its proponent, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
The debate has created tension between the Kentucky senators, with Paul pushing for regulations that he said would promote public safety while preserving the hemp industry that’s proliferated since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill—a reform that McConnell played a key role in advancing.
But while McConnell has contested the idea that the legislation he sponsored would “completely destroy” the market, as Paul and industry stakeholders have insisted, he ultimately agreed to pull the language from the agriculture bill following Paul’s procedural protest. The Senate passed the underlying legislation last week.
“My opposition to the amendment proposed by Sen. McConnell is that it would essentially set the legal limit of THC in CBD products to zero,” Paul said in the op-ed. “The hemp industry has warned that completely prohibiting a naturally occurring substance will destroy the industry, in part because customers likely buy these products for the perceived health benefits of low levels of THC.”
“Further, the proposed reform is vague and would criminalize hemp products like CBD oil if they contain only a ‘quantifiable amount’ of THC, as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services,” he said. “My concern is that this non-specific law could be interpreted to mean zero THC, which would not only be nearly impossible to produce, but also may have no customer base.”
“This is why the hemp industry worries it could be killed by reforms that are not well thought out.”
McConnell disputed that point in a separate op-ed, as well as on the Senate floor where he lambasted opponents of his proposed hemp ban, calling out Paul without explicitly naming him.
Paul, for his part, hasn’t denied problems in the intoxicating hemp market, writing that some distributors “are skirting the legal limits by overly enhancing the concentrations of certain cannabinoids in their hemp products.”
“As a consequence, some of these products are dangerous and, in some states, available to underage youths, prompting reform efforts,” he said, adding that both he and the industry at large are “open to reforms that prevent ‘juicing up’ hemp products, like hemp beverages, with purely synthetic cannabinoids of unknown origin that may cause reactions similar to marijuana.”
“At least 25 states have already instituted age limits and THC levels for such products. I have no objection to many of these reforms,” Paul said. “Ideally, the reforms would occur at the state level and maintain a reasonably low dose of delta-9 THC in the finished product.”
However, he wrote that regulations limiting THC levels in hemp products “should not set a target so low it can’t be physically attained,” and they shouldn’t “set targets so low that the product loses its intended effect, which is most often to manage pain or anxiety.”
“Any reform to the legal treatment of hemp must ensure that the industry has the opportunity to thrive while promoting consumer safety,” he said.
The senator said he remains “engaged in discussions with Senator McConnell and other interested members, and we have plans to meet with members of the House of Representatives in the near future to reach a compromise.”
“These discussions provide us with the opportunity to inject some common sense into the regulatory framework for hemp. Currently, if a single hemp plant exceeds the .3 percent delta-9 THC limit, regulations require the entire field be plowed under and a year’s crop is lost. Regulations should focus on finished, consumable hemp products rather than the hemp plants and the farmers that grow them. Any reform should acknowledge that hemp grown for industrial uses, like hemp wood, should not require testing at all, which would result in less waste for hemp famers.”
“Reasonable and clear statutory guidelines that ensure the viability of the hemp industry and the safety of its products is preferable to using the law to smash a market that is currently depended upon by Kentucky farmers, business owners and consumers,” Paul said. “If all interested parties act in good faith, I believe a compromise can be reached in which the hemp industry continues to grow while also providing safe products to consumers.”
The hemp language in the Senate spending bill, prior to being removed, was nearly identical to what the House Appropriations Committee passed in June, with noted cannabis prohibitionist Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) leading the charge.
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.
Harris, for his part, told Marijuana Moment that he wasn’t concerned about any potential opposition to the hemp ban in the Senate—and he also disputed reports about the scope of what his legislation would do to the industry.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report in June stating that the legislation would “effectively” prohibit hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Initially it said that such a ban would prevent the sale of CBD as well, but the CRS report was updated to exclude that language for reasons that are unclear.
The hemp language is largely consistent with appropriations and agriculture legislation that was introduced, but not ultimately enacted, under the last Congress.
Hemp industry stakeholders rallied against that proposal, an earlier version of which was also included in the base bill from the subcommittee last year. It’s virtually identical to a provision of the 2024 Farm Bill that was attached by a separate committee last May via an amendment from Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), which was also not enacted into law.
A leading alcohol industry association, meanwhile, has called on Congress to dial back language in the House spending bill that would ban most consumable hemp products, instead proposing to maintain the legalization of naturally derived cannabinoids from the crop and only prohibit synthetic items.
Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) President and CEO Francis Creighton said in a press release that “proponents and opponents alike have agreed that this language amounts to a ban.”
Separately, key GOP congressional lawmakers—including one member who supports marijuana legalization—don’t seem especially concerned about provisions in the bill despite concern from stakeholders that it would put much of the hemp industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products derived from the plant.
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Jonathan Miller, general counsel at the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told congressional lawmakers in April that the market is “begging” for federal regulations around cannabis products.
At the hearing, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) also inquired about FDA inaction around regulations, sarcastically asking if it’d require “a gazillion bureaucrats that work from home” to regulate cannabinoids such as CBD.
A report from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) last year called cannabis a “significant threat” to the alcohol industry, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine.
Last November, meanwhile, a beer industry trade group put out a statement of guiding principles to address what it called “the proliferation of largely unregulated intoxicating hemp and cannabis products,” warning of risks to consumers and communities resulting from THC consumption.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
