The Senate stripped language that would close a hemp loophole from its Agriculture Appropriations Bill, but with the House holding firm, the hemp industry remains in the weeds.
“This bill that we’re here to discuss today is really designed to ban the industry. It does give us a year in theory for us to continue to be doing what we do… but this is a bill designed not to regulate this industry but essentially to just prohibit it,” Carolindica founder and CEO Chris Karazin told FOX Business.
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If closed, the loophole would change how hemp companies are legally allowed to operate. In 2018, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., championed a loophole in the farm bill that allowed the production of psychoactive hemp products by legalizing the cultivation of cannabis plants with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis. However, McConnell seemed to switch his stance, looking to close the very loophole the legislation created.
Karazin said the vast majority of hemp companies would be forced to close their doors if the legislation were to pass.
“This is a bill that creates another Prohibition era,” Karazin warned.
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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., seemed to agree with Karazin’s assessment, as his pushback against his fellow Kentucky senator led to the language being taken out of the Senate bill. As the two senators went head-to-head, Paul reportedly threatened to block the bill entirely, according to Politico.
“We have hemp farmers in my state, and this language will destroy them,” Paul told Politico on July 28. “We told them we’d give consent to get on it, but we want that horrendous language out.”
McConnell has reportedly implied in private conversations that he sees closing the hemp loophole as a key part of the agriculture policy legacy he wants to leave behind when he retires next year, Politico reported.
“Senator Paul deserves real credit for standing up to misguided attempts to criminalize a legal industry that’s helping farmers and consumers alike,” Karazin told Fox Business.
H.R. 4121, the House bill, still says the act can be used “to prohibit the transportation, processing, sale, or use of hemp, or seeds of such plant, that is grown or cultivated in accordance with section 7606 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 or subtitle G of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, within or outside the State in which the hemp is grown or cultivated.”
However, Karazin told FOX Business that hemp business owners are not giving up.
“The fight is far from over. With the House still pushing this dangerous language, we need more lawmakers to recognize that prohibition isn’t the answer – smart regulation is! Hemp-derived products can and should be sold safely, with proper testing and age restrictions, just like other adult-use goods.”
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