The Farm Bill is a piece of legislation that is updated every 5 years, which establishes good practices for the farming industry and agricultural programs. Policymakers can address and keep up to date with current legislation and food issues. Recently, the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, making it federally legal. It is believed that the legislators intentions were for hemp to be used towards industrial products.

However, a loophole was created under the 2018 Farm Bill, which allowed hemp producers to make extractions from the hemp plant, while still remaining in compliance with the law. Essentially, allowing intoxicating substances such as delta-8 THC, and THCA to be sold at convenience stores and more.

After 2018, cultivators began to experiment with the plant, developing extraction capabilities. Forbes reported that the sales of products containing delta-8 THC created over $2 billion in revenue between 2021 and 2022.

Recently, House of Representatives member, Mary Miller, proposed an amendment which would greatly limit the definition of hemp under the Farm Bill. She suggested hemp be defined as: “to only include naturally occurring, naturally derived, and non-intoxicating cannabinoids”.

This change would exclude many of the hemp products that are currently available in the market, potentially shutting down thousands of businesses. Additionally, it was proposed that the definition of hemp would only permit a total THC of 0.3% on a dry weight basis.

If passed, this amendment could ban 90-95% of ingestible hemp products currently in the market. This would additionally prohibit the sale of products containing intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids.

However, it seems that the likelihood of the Mary Miller Amendment becoming law soon is slim. Not only would it need to be passed by the Senate and the President, but committees would need to be formed to approve of this amendment to the bill. Hopefully, more updates will come soon.

Sources:

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12047#:~:text=The%20farm%20bill%20is%20an,address%20agricultural%20and%20food%20issues.

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AG/AG00/20240523/117371/BILLS-118-HR8467-M001211-Amdt-35.pdf

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/21/hemp-marijuana-farm-bill-00159040

https://www.mcglinchey.com/insights/hemp-industry-2024-state-and-federal-changes/