![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-47.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A GOP senator has successfully blocked a proposed ban on hemp THC products<\/a> that was included in a key spending bill, giving the industry a win amid contentious discussions around intoxicating cannabinoids.<\/p>\n Following intensive debates around the language\u2014which would have prohibited hemp products with any quantifiable amount of THC\u2014Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) stood his ground with a threat to procedurally hold up the appropriations bill covering Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (Ag\/FDA). And to that end, he prevailed in getting the section removed.<\/p>\n Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who championed the federal legalization of hemp and its derivatives under the 2018 Farm Bill, wanted to see the hemp ban proceed through the process<\/a>. But on Tuesday, Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), chair of the appropriations subcommittee of jurisdiction, told reporters it was ultimately stripped from the legislation, as Politico reported.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could never get agreement between the two,\u201d Hoeven said<\/a>, referring to Paul and McConnell.<\/p>\n When asked whether he feels the hemp ban removal would clear the path to advance the underlying bill ahead of an August recess, the chair said, \u201cI sure hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for McConnell, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to hold up the process\u201d on spending legislation over hemp and will be \u201cworking with the committee on a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n It should be noted, however, that the hemp ban provisions are still included in the House version of the agriculture appropriations bill, so it\u2019s possible the the language could end up making it into the final version of legislation sent to the president\u2019s desk later this year.<\/p>\n Jonathan Miller, general counsel at the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told Marijuana Moment that the organization is \u201cdeeply grateful to Senator Paul for standing up for the hemp industry,\u201d and they\u2019re \u201cquite encouraged by the intense negotiations that took place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile a substantive deal was not formally reached, we\u2019re hopeful that, from this work, a compromise that protects the hemp industry and hemp farmers will ultimately prevail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ahead of the subcommittee chairman\u2019s remarks on the deal, Paul told Politico that \u201cwe have hemp farmers in my state, and this language will destroy them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe told them we\u2019d give consent to get on it, but we want that horrendous language out,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n The debate around federal hemp laws has created tension between the industry and certain players in the marijuana space who supported the ban, arguing that current policies have given hemp businesses a free pass as state-licensed marijuana operators continue to struggle under federal prohibition.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has everything to do with arcane Senate procedure, not a lack of support,\u201d Chris Lindsey, vice president of policy and state advocacy at the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH), told Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, there is strong bipartisan and bicameral backing for affirming the original intent of the 2018 Farm Bill,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will continue to work with Congress to confront the dangers of chemically-converted synthetic THC products while safeguarding CBD and industrial hemp products.\u201d<\/p>\n Marijuana Moment reached out to Paul\u2019s office for comment, but a representative was not immediately available.<\/p>\n Under the legislation that advanced through the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month,\u00a0consumable hemp products with any \u201cquantifiable\u201d amount of THC would be banned<\/a>.<\/p>\n Paul told Marijuana Moment late last month that the proposal\u2014which largely mirrors provisions of a House version of the spending bill, championed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)\u2014would \u201ccompletely destroy\u201d the industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the House side, while Harris amended report language attached to the chamber\u2019s bill clarifying that it\u2019s not the intent to stop people from accessing \u201cindustrial or non-intoxicating\u00a0hemp-derived cannabinoid products with trace or insignificant amounts of THC<\/a>,\u201d the bill itself still says that products containing any \u201cquantifiable\u201d amounts of THC couldn\u2019t be marketed. And it\u2019s rare to find CBD items without any natural traces of THC.<\/p>\n Paul recently filed a bill that would go in the opposite direction of Harris\u2019s ban,\u00a0proposing to triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain<\/a>, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.<\/p>\n The senator introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, in June. It mirrors versions he\u2019s sponsored over the last several sessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harris, for his part, told Marijuana Moment that\u00a0he\u2019s not concerned about any potential opposition in the Senate<\/a>\u2014and he also disputed reports about the scope of what his legislation would do to the industry.<\/p>\n The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report last month stating that\u00a0the legislation would \u201ceffectively\u201d prohibit hemp-derived cannabinoid products<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n The hemp\u00a0language\u00a0is largely consistent with appropriations and agriculture legislation that was introduced, but not ultimately enacted, under the last Congress.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s\u00a0virtually identical to a provision of the 2024 Farm Bill that was attached by a separate committee<\/a>\u00a0last May via an amendment from Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), which was also not enacted into law.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0proposing to maintain the legalization of naturally derived cannabinoids<\/a>\u00a0from the crop and only prohibit synthetic items.<\/p>\n Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) President and CEO Francis Creighton said in a press release that \u201cproponents and opponents alike have agreed that this language amounts to a ban.\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, key GOP congressional lawmakers\u2014including one member who supports marijuana legalization\u2014don\u2019t seem especially concerned about provisions in the bill<\/a>\u00a0despite concern from stakeholders that it would\u00a0put much of the hemp industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products<\/a>\u00a0derived from the plant.<\/p>\n \u2014 Miller, of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told congressional lawmakers in April that the market is \u201cbegging\u201d for federal regulations<\/a>\u00a0around cannabis products.<\/p>\n At the hearing, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) also inquired about FDA inaction around regulations, sarcastically asking if it\u2019d require \u201ca gazillion bureaucrats that work from home\u201d to regulate cannabinoids such as CBD.<\/p>\n A report from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) last year\u00a0called cannabis a \u201csignificant threat\u201d to the alcohol industry<\/a>, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine.<\/p>\n Last November, meanwhile, a beer industry trade group\u00a0put out a statement of guiding principles to address what it called \u201cthe proliferation of largely unregulated intoxicating hemp and cannabis products,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0warning of risks to consumers and communities resulting from THC consumption.<\/p>\n The post GOP Senator Successfully Blocks Federal Hemp THC Ban In Key Spending Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A GOP senator has successfully blocked a proposed ban on hemp THC products that was included in a key spending bill, giving the industry a win amid contentious discussions around intoxicating cannabinoids. Following intensive debates around the language\u2014which would have prohibited hemp products with any quantifiable amount of THC\u2014Sen. RandContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":82511,"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\/82510"}],"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=82510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82512,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82510\/revisions\/82512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of 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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/MM_Bill_Tracker_V5_blank-46.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: GOP Senator Successfully Blocks Federal Hemp THC Ban In Key Spending Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"