Washington, DC: House lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved Senate-backed funding legislation that contains provisions delaying the implementation of a federal ban on certain hemp-derived products. The President signed the measure into law the following day.
Language in the funding bill delays by one month a forthcoming federal ban on products containing naturally derived cannabinoids above 0.4 milligrams per container. (By contrast, hemp products “not capable of being naturally produced by cannabis” will become federally illegal on November 12th.) The delay provides Congress with additional time to consider pending legislation that seeks to regulate naturally occurring hemp-derived cannabinoid products rather than outlaw them.
Representative Jim Baird (R-IN), one of several lawmakers who pushed for the delay, stated in a press release: “This short extension of the current hemp definition will provide Congress and farmers the time needed to develop a long-term solution. Producers deserve as much certainty as possible in deciding what to plant. Farmers should have the freedom to plant the crops that best serve their operations and profits.”
On multiple occasions, the White House had lobbied lawmakers to reconsider the forthcoming federal ban. In April, the administration authorized the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide eligible beneficiaries access to designated hemp products containing up to 3 mg of THC. (Certain groups are legally challenging this program.) Absent further action from Congress, those products will become federally prohibited later this year.
NORML has consistently urged federal officials to establish regulatory guidelines governing the production, testing, labeling, and marketing of hemp-derived cannabinoid products – most of which are unregulated and some of which are of variable quality and purity.