Washington, DC—In May, the new Farm Bill draft was released, and the U.S. Hemp Roundtable celebrated the fact that it contains four of the major priorities outlined by Roundtable and the coalition of 33 hemp non-profit organizations that joined several months ago. But the news was not all good: an amendment from Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) aims to ban potentially impairing products like Delta-8 and bring all non-intoxicating cannabidiol (CBD) products with any quantifiable amount of THC under a new prohibition, the Roundtable report. The organization explained that this means 90% to 95% of the hemp products market would be federally banned, and that includes animal feed, which has been approved by FDA for these uses. U.S. Hemp Roundtable stressed that redefining hemp to include a calculation of THC-A would even have serious implications in the fiber and grain market.
"By federally banning all ingestible hemp products with any quantifiable level of THC, the Mary Miller Amendment would result in federal prohibition of 90-95% of all hemp products on the market, even a large majority of popular, non-intoxicating CBD products that naturally contain trace, non-intoxicating amounts of THC in them," explained U.S. Hemp Roundtable General Counsel 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."
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable urged Members of Congress to vote “NO” on the Mary Miller amendment, and but in the latest move, Rep. Andy Harris inserted the amendment into the FY 25 Agriculture/FDA Appropriation bill. This was done, Miller said, without any hearing, any consultation with U.S. farmers, or any vote from subcommittee members.
"While states as politically diverse as Florida, Illinois, and Louisiana have recently rejected monopolistic efforts to ban hemp products, a few conservative politicians have chosen to abandon conservative principles by turning their backs on farmers, veterans, and small businesses, and by rejecting states’ rights to regulate by forcing federal prohibitory preemption," Miller reported. "Contrary to advocate pronouncements that their goal is 'to close the Delta-8 THC loophole,' the Mary Miller Amendment would ban 90-95% of all ingestible hemp products in the marketplace—including the vast majority of non-intoxicating, wellness-improving CBD supplements—while wreaking havoc for U.S. hemp farmers, including fiber and grain, by redefining hemp in a matter that would make most crops non-compliant with a new THC standard."
There’s a long way to go before this "ill-considered public policy" could become law, Miller noted. "We will be asking the full Appropriations Committee to excise the Mary Miller Amendment from the final text. And of course, we will be fighting efforts on the House floor and in the Senate to include this hemp-killing language in any bill, be it appropriations or the Farm Bill. In the end, we are confident that once Members of Congress are briefed on the full implications of this effort, they will stand on the side of farmers, small businesses and veterans, and reject it.”
The Roundtable issued an urgent grassroots movement to support efforts to delete the hemp-killing provision in the FY25 Agriculture/FDA Appropriations Bill. Take action here: URGENT: Hemp-Killing Amendment Filed on Farm Bill and Appropriations Bill – Contact Your Member of Congress TODAY.
