Rand Paul
Opinion contributor
AI-assisted summary A provision in a government funding bill threatens to shut down the hemp industry.
The bill would make nearly all current hemp products illegal by setting a low THC limit.
Sen. Rand Paul argues the provision was added to a must-pass bill to avoid debate.
The funding bill to end the longest government shutdown in American history was not simply a “yes” or “no” to reopen the government. Tucked away in the bill, on page 163, in Title VII of Division B, was a provision to shut down the hemp industry. It wipes out the regulatory frameworks adopted by several states, takes away consumer choice and destroys the livelihoods of hemp farmers.
This could not come at a worse time for our farmers. Costs have increased while prices for crops have declined. Farm bankruptcies are rising. For many farmers, planting hemp offered them a lifeline. Hemp can be used for textiles, rope, insulation, composite wood, paper, grain and in CBD products, and growing hemp helped farmers to mitigate the loses they’ve endured during this season of hardship.
But that lifeline is about to be extinguished.
Nearly 100% of hemp products currently sold will be illegal
The justification for this hemp ban, we are told, is that some bad actors are skirting the legal limits by enhancing the concentrations of THC in their products. The hemp industry and I had already come to the negotiating table, in good faith, to discuss reforms that prevent “juicing up” hemp products with purely synthetic cannabinoids of unknown origin.
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