A Republican congressman who plans to imminently file legislation to federally regulate hemp-derived products in place of a ban that’s currently scheduled to go into effect later this year says the plan faces opposition from a coalition of strange bedfellows that includes sectors of the alcohol industry, marijuana businesses and cannabis legalization opponents.
Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) said during a Zoom meeting with members of the group Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA) on Thursday that his bill will create “a regulatory and tax framework” that “would provide a lifeline and a…durable legal pathway for this marketplace,” according to a transcript obtained by Marijuana Moment.
Hemp derivatives with less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill that President Donald Trump signed during his first term in office. But late last year, Trump signed new legislation containing provisions that will redefine hemp to make it so only products with 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container will remain legal after November 12.
Barr said the planned recriminalization of hemp THC products would “jeopardize the existing crop that is in storage right now” after having been grown by farmers and would upend “future opportunities to cultivate this this crop.”
“So that’s why we need this legislation to establish a regulatory framework and create a level playing field with other similar products, especially in the drink category,” he said, according to the meeting transcript. “We want to create kind of a level playing field with other adult beverages so that farmers will have certainty that they can sell into a mature marketplace with protections that achieves both what we want it to achieve—for safety, for targeting age-appropriate consumers—but also helping our farmers all the way through.”
But the effort is facing opposition not just from prohibitionist forces but also from segments of the alcohol industry as well as marijuana businesses that sell cannabis products under limited state-based licensing systems, according to the congressman.
Producers of distilled spirits have an “understandable concern about competition” from hemp-derived THC drinks, Barr said. Companies in the wholesale tier of the alcohol industry could be an ally, he added, “because they want to distribute” cannabis beverages.
“I think the wholesalers want a three-tier system, so we have worked to try to achieve that with, again, a level playing field where you would have exceptions for direct-to-consumer, where it would make sense that it’s on a state-by-state level,” he said.
“We recognize that distilled spirits and other adult beverage groups don’t want competition. That’s natural. But what we want is regulation and tax… We want a level playing field. Competition and choice is something I believe in. And giving consumers choices. Competition’s a good thing… You’re looking at one of the most adamant defenders of the bourbon industry. I’m co-chairman of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus. I don’t think you have to choose. I think you can be an advocate of both hemp products and Kentucky bourbon. So the issue is a level playing field.”
“Then you have the prohibitionists,” the congressman said. “And they’re just there, and they may not be persuadable, but they exist.”
“And then finally, there’s another category out there, and that’s the marijuana industry that views this as competition as well,” Barr said, per the transcript of the meeting. “They will want to push the industry into specialized dispensaries. My view is that that is not a level playing field. Maybe that’s appropriate for the marijuana industry, but I don’t believe that’s appropriate for this hemp-derived product industry.”
Barr’s forthcoming bill, which is titled the “Lawful Hemp Protection Act” in draft versions that Marijuana Moment has seen, would institute age limits labeling requirements for hemp products, subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight. There would also be taxes on hemp products administered by the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
Meanwhile, White House officials recently provided Barr’s office with feedback on pending legislation to create a regulatory framework for hemp.
Last month, Vince Haley, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and James Braid, assistant to the president for legislative affairs, sent hemp policy suggestions to the congressman’s office.
“We appreciate your work to advance the policy of” an executive order Trump signed in December that included provisions seeking to protect Americans’ access to CBD products, the staffers wrote in a letter to the congressman.
“We are transmitting for your consideration draft legislative text and comments to address the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products in order to allow Americans to benefit from access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products while preserving the Congress’s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose serious health risks,” the White House officials said, according to a social media post containing a screenshot of the letter. “We are available for discussion and further technical assistance.”
The attachment with the administration’s proposed legislative text has not been publicly released, and the White House and Barr’s office did not respond to Marijuana Moment’s requests for further details.
At Thursday’s meeting with hemp business representatives, the congressman said there’s “tremendous opportunity in agriculture, in farming, and in this industry generally,” according to the transcript.
“I come from Central Kentucky. All four of my grandparents were born and raised in central Kentucky. I was raised in central Kentucky. And once upon a time, that was the burley tobacco capital of the world. Since the decline in tobacco production, our farmers have been looking for alternatives. And industrial hemp and hemp-derived products has created a huge marketplace and tremendous opportunity. And in the consumer marketplace, this has created some choices for consumers. I look forward to working with the industry to provide some stability and certainty so that this industry can be viewed properly as a mature industry, so that there’ll be some durability to the law and decrease the uncertainty that currently exists, so that this market can thrive.”
Barr also said cannabis products can provide a safer alternative to prescription medications, especially for military veterans.
“To the extent we can promote opioid alternatives or opioid avoidance and help veterans with anxiety or sleep deprivation or insomnia or post-traumatic stress, that’s exactly what we want to do, is to create those options for our veterans to take care of them,” he said. “We think this is a great option for our veteran community.”
HIFA officials on the call said they expect Barr’s bill to be filed within the next week, though the expected timeline for the legislation has already shifted back a few times over the past several weeks as Barr has engaged stakeholders, tweaked draft provisions and sought initial cosponsors to join him in introducing the proposal.
The House of Representatives recently passed a Farm Bill with provisions aimed at aiding industrial hemp producers—but without any language to delay or alter the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products that’s scheduled to take effect in November.
Trump last month pushed congressional lawmakers to take action to amend the currently scheduled hemp ban, which he suggested threatens to federally recriminalize full-spectrum CBD products.
“I am calling on Congress to update the Law to ensure that Americans can continue to access the full-spectrum CBD products they have come to rely on, and that help them, while preserving Congress’s intent to restrict the sale of products that pose Health risks,” the president said in a Truth Social post on Thursday, the same day his administration announced it is moving forward to reschedule marijuana.
“We must get this done RIGHT and FAST, especially for those who saw that CBD helps them,” he said. “Plus, I am told it will also help our GREAT FARMERS, who we love, and will always be there for.”
Major retailer Target, meanwhile, recently moved to expand its sales of hemp THC drinks into more states.
The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), for its part, said the House’s failure to include provisions to delay or alter the ban on hemp THC products was a “missed opportunity.”
“A ban will not remove these products from the market—it will push consumers toward unregulated, online channels with no age verification, no product standards and no accountability,” Dawson Hobbs, executive vice president of government affairs for WSWA said.
