Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) has proposed a new amendment to the Farm Bill that would officially prohibit all ingestible hemp products with any level of THC.
The amendment would not only affect products containing Delta-8 and CBD, but it would significantly harm the hemp, grain and fiber industries. According to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable’s General Counsel Jonathan Miller, 90-95% of all hemp products on the market today would be prohibited, including a large majority of popular, non-intoxicating CBD products that naturally contain trace amounts of non-intoxicating CBD in them.
“The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, and the dozens of other non-profit organizations in the hemp space, strongly oppose the Mary Miller Amendment and urge its defeat in tomorrow’s Farm Bill markup before the House Agriculture Committee,” said Jonathan Miller. “The redefinition of hemp to include a calculation of THC-A would wreak havoc in the fiber and grain markets. While we have for years strongly supported efforts to regulate hemp and CBD — even testifying to that effect before Congress — the Mary Miller Amendment throws the baby out with the bathwater, devastating a vibrant industry, killing tens of thousands of agriculture and retail jobs and denying access to popular products that Americans count on for their health and wellness.”
Jonathan Miller shared with CStore Decisions that he, and the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, have long advocated for regulation of these products, not prohibition. This amendment would skip the regulatory process and move directly to banning a significant number of currently legally-marketable products — affecting fiber and grain markets the most.
“It also would redefine hemp in a way that would make it impossible for a majority of hemp, grain and fiber farmers to be compliant with THC laws,” Miller noted. “So, it would significantly undermine the hemp, fiber and grain markets as well. All in all, it really would be a devastating blow to the hemp industry.”
Currently, the way to measure whether hemp is compliant or not is based on the percentage of Delta-9 THC that the product contains — legally compliant products contain less than .3% of Delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis.
If the Mary Miller Amendment is put into effect, this would call for a measurement of total THC to include THC-A. If this type of measurement is required, Jonathan Miller said, a significant majority of hemp crops, including those grown for fiber and grain, would be deemed non compliant.
Miller believes that the proposed amendment is aimed towards decreasing competition between the marijuana and hemp industries.
“It’s an effort by some in the marijuana industry to stifle competition,” he speculated. “There has been significant growth in adult hemp products, and marijuana folks believe it’s been cutting into their profit margins.”
The good news, however, is that the process is nowhere close to being over.
“The Farm Bill is likely not to even pass this year,” Miller continued. “So, this might just have been an exercise in messaging as opposed to something with any real meaningful (effect).”
