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A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators have filed a bill to reduce regulations on farmers that grow industrial hemp for non-extraction purposes.<\/p>\n
Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mike Braun (R-IN) introduced the Industrial Hemp Act on Thursday\u2014the latest piece of congressional legislation focused on the crop, which was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.<\/p>\n
As it stands, hemp and its derivatives like CBD that contain no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight are not controlled substances, and regulatory responsibility falls with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The new bill seeks to create a distinction between \u201cindustrial\u201d hemp that\u2019s grown for products like fiber and \u201chemp for any purpose\u201d which would cover crops cultivated to extract cannabinoids like CBD.<\/p>\n
Farmers that cultivate industrial hemp would no longer be subject to background checks in order to participate in the market, and they wouldn\u2019t have to fulfill rigorous sampling and testing requirements.<\/p>\n
Instead, they would simply have to go through an annual visual inspection, where they would need to demonstrate that they\u2019re growing the crop for a purpose covered under the new \u201cindustrial hemp\u201d definition. If they failed the initial visual review they would then need to provide documentation demonstrating \u201ca clear intent and in-field practices consistent with the designation\u201d of industrial hemp. Only if they refused to do so would regulators then be empowered to physically test harvested plant material.<\/p>\n
\u201cMontana farmers don\u2019t need government bureaucrats putting unnecessary burdens on their operations,\u201d Tester said<\/a> in a press release. \u201cIt\u2019s time we cut red tape, and make it easier for industrial hemp farmers to get their product to market. My bipartisan bill builds on Montana\u2019s leadership on hemp policy and creates good-paying jobs for folks across rural America.\u201d<\/p>\n Braun added that it\u2019s \u201cimportant that we set American farmers up for success by cutting burdensome regulations and red tape.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis legislation will expand opportunities for industrial hemp producers in Indiana and across the country and allow them to tap into one of the fastest growing agricultural markets,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n The measure also preempts states and tribes from enacting requirements on industrial hemp growers that are more stringent than those laid out in the bill. It further provides that anyone who knowingly produces hemp crops that are inconsistent with their designation will be ineligible to participate in the legal hemp industry for a period of five years.<\/p>\n This bill\u2019s introduction comes as discussions are heating up over the next iteration of the Farm Bill, in which lawmakers will likely try to include provisions to further ease burdens on the hemp market. Stakeholders have backed several standalone measures that tackle the issue so far this Congress.<\/p>\n For example, a group of House lawmakers introduced a bill this month that seeks to end what they say is a \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d federal policy<\/a> that bars people with prior felony drug convictions from owning or leading legal hemp businesses.<\/p>\n Another pair of bipartisan lawmakers recently refiled bills<\/a> meant to provide a pathway for the regulation of hemp derivatives like CBD as dietary supplements and food and beverage additives.<\/p>\n \u2014 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in January that it would not be creating rules to allow the marketing of CBD<\/a> as dietary supplements or food items, leaving the massive industry without regulations despite repeated calls for administrative action from lawmakers, advocates and stakeholders.<\/p>\n Following a \u201ccareful review\u201d of the non-intoxicating cannabinoid, FDA said it reached the conclusion that the existing regulatory pathways that are in place for other dietary supplements and food additives will not work for CBD. Instead, the agency said that wants to \u201cwork with Congress on a new way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n FDA\u2019s announcement came days after\u00a0the agency released finalized guidance<\/a>\u00a0that focuses on developing cannabis-based drugs and outlined the process and unique considerations for scientists when it comes to hemp and marijuana.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), said in January that he was preparing to\u00a0confront FDA over their failure to enact regulations<\/a>\u00a0for hemp-derived products like CBD.<\/p>\n Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Brett Guthrie (R-KY) sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf last year, demanding answers over the continued lack of regulations for CBD<\/a> for commercial purposes.<\/p>\n At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing last year, FDA\u2019s Califf recognized that the agency\u00a0had moved slowly with rulemaking for CBD<\/a>\u00a0in the food supply, stating that the situation \u201clooks pretty much the same in terms of where we are now\u201d as compared to when he first worked on the issue in 2016.<\/p>\n He said the FDA has taken steps to research the safety profile of cannabinoids to inform future rules, but he also punted the criticism about inaction to Congress, saying he doesn\u2019t feel that \u201cthe current authorities we have on the food side or the drug side necessarily give us what we need to have to get the right pathways forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to come up with something new,\u201d Califf said. \u201cI\u2019m very committed to doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n FDA also recently touted its role helping a state agency\u00a0crack down on a company selling delta-8 THC gummies<\/a>\u00a0that they said are linked to \u201cserious adverse events.\u201d<\/p>\n In November, the agency\u00a0sent warning letters to five companies<\/a>\u00a0that sell foods and beverages containing CBD.<\/p>\n The agency didn\u2019t specify why it targeted those particular five companies out of the many more that market similar cannabidiol-infused consumables, but it said that they sell products \u201cthat people may confuse for traditional foods or beverages which may result in unintentional consumption or overconsumption of CBD.\u201d<\/p>\n All of this comes in the background of a major task for FDA:\u00a0Conducting a scientific review into marijuana, at the direction of President Joe Biden<\/a>, to aid in an assessment of its federal scheduling. FDA\u2019s recommendation won\u2019t be binding, but officials say they expect DEA to product a scheduling recommendation that\u2019s consistent with their findings about its risks and benefits.<\/p>\n Read the text of the Industrial Hemp Act<\/a> below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Oregon Company Defends Federal Lawsuit Challenging The State\u2019s Ban On Cannabis Exports<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Pixabay<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Bipartisan Senators File Bill To Ease Restrictions On Industrial Hemp Farmers<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators have filed a bill to reduce regulations on farmers that grow industrial hemp for non-extraction purposes. Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Mike Braun (R-IN) introduced the Industrial Hemp Act on Thursday\u2014the latest piece of congressional legislation focused on the crop, which was federally legalizedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":63034,"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\/63033"}],"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=63033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63035,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63033\/revisions\/63035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Bipartisan Senators File Bill To Ease Restrictions On Industrial Hemp Farmers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"