{"id":56054,"date":"2022-07-21T13:45:46","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T21:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/07\/21\/congressional-lawmakers-will-hold-hearing-on-hemp-next-week-committee-announces\/"},"modified":"2022-07-21T20:45:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T04:45:49","slug":"congressional-lawmakers-will-hold-hearing-on-hemp-next-week-committee-announces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/07\/21\/congressional-lawmakers-will-hold-hearing-on-hemp-next-week-committee-announces\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressional Lawmakers Will Hold Hearing On Hemp Next Week, Committee Announces"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

A House Agriculture subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on hemp issues for next week, and the expectation is that members will be discussing expanding on regulations for the crop as part of the next Farm Bill package.<\/p>\n

Members of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research will meet on Thursday for the hearing, titled, \u201cAn Examination of the USDA Hemp Production Program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hemp was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, opening up a cannabis market that has rapidly expanded\u2014but not without industry growing pains. While advocates and stakeholders were pleased to see Congress incorporate certain feedback about rules for the non-intoxicating crop, they still see ample opportunity for improvement.<\/p>\n

The hearing notice is currently light on details, and it doesn\u2019t reference the 2023 Farm Bill that lawmakers have already started contemplating. But it wouldn\u2019t be especially surprising if there was some discussion about ways to build upon the existing hemp regulations through that future large-scale agriculture legislation.<\/p>\n

The chairman of the full committee, Rep. David Scott (D-GA) said in February that he felt the next iteration of the Farm Bill should go even further than hemp and include provisions dealing with marijuana\u2014specifically policies to remove cannabis industry barriers for Black entrepreneurs and small businesses.<\/p>\n

\n

As the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, I am committed to addressing the issue of cannabis in our next Farm Bill. We need to eliminate barriers for small businesses and Black entrepreneurs to start legal cannabis companies under state law. https:\/\/t.co\/7P2yKFNYXr<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 David Scott (@Electdavidscott) March 5, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u201cHere we are, the fastest growing agricultural product, between hemp and cannabis,\u201d he told<\/a> Roll Call at the time. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to address this issue. We can no longer hide it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), a member of the subcommittee that\u2019s set to meet<\/a> next week, filed a bill titled the \u201cHemp Advancement Act\u201d<\/a> in February that\u2019s meant to provide hemp businesses with additional regulatory flexibility that stakeholders have been seeking. The measure, which she has said is intended to start discussion on reforms in anticipation of the next Farm Bill, would further remove a controversial ban on hemp market participation by people with prior drug convictions.<\/p>\n

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report in March that outlined various components of the 2018 Farm Bill and made recommendations for future policy considerations, including those dealing with hemp. For example, the paper noted stakeholder feedback about revising the federal definition of hemp by increasing the allowable THC limit from 0.3 percent to 1.0 percent THC per dry weight.<\/p>\n

CRS also said<\/a> that Congress should take into account industry complaints about the ongoing absence of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations to market hemp-derived CBD products in the food supply and possible take steps to address the problem.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, House Appropriations Committee leaders recently released spending legislation<\/a> for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that calls for multiagency coordination to create guidance on hemp manufacturing and also recommends that the department work with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to resolve concerns about enforcement actions for so-called \u201chot hemp\u201d that exceeds the 0.3 percent THC limit during extract processing.<\/p>\n

\u2014
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

USDA released the results of a massive, first-ever federal survey<\/a> on the hemp industry in February, providing a \u201cbenchmark\u201d analysis of the economic impact of the burgeoning market. At a top level, the department\u2019s survey found that the hemp market\u2019s value reached $824 million in 2021, with about 54,200 acres grown across the country.<\/p>\n

Back in Congress, Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) filed a bill earlier this year that\u2019s aimed at allowing hemp and CBD derived from the crop to be marketed and sold as dietary supplements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Senate, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced legislation that would similarly exempt \u201chemp, hemp-derived cannabidiol, or a substance containing any other ingredient derived from hemp\u201d from certain restrictions that have blocked the emergence of legal consumable hemp products<\/a>\u00a0while the FDA has slow-walked regulations.<\/p>\n

Paul also filed a separate measure last year that would triple the concentration of THC that hemp could legally contain<\/a>\u00a0while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about the federal regulations.<\/p>\n

Next Thursday\u2019s hemp hearing isn\u2019t the only congressional cannabis meeting that\u2019s set to take place next week. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee chaired by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) will also convene on Tuesday to talk about the harms of federal marijuana criminalization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Revised Marijuana Research Bill Expected To Head To President\u2019s Desk Soon, With Floor Action Planned Next Week<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Pixabay<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Congressional Lawmakers Will Hold Hearing On Hemp Next Week, Committee Announces<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Congressional Lawmakers Will Hold Hearing On Hemp Next Week, Committee Announces<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A House Agriculture subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on hemp issues for next week, and the expectation is that members will be discussing expanding on regulations for the crop as part of the next Farm Bill package. Members of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research will meetContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":56055,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56056,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56054\/revisions\/56056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}