364 days until federal hemp THC prohibition as President Trump signs ban
The federal government is reopening, and hemp-derived THC will become criminal contraband in 364 days.
The spending package President Donald Trump signed into law late Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in history includes language that will outlaw nearly all the estimated $28.3 billion U.S. hemp industry.
Two Republicans voted to save hemp-derived THC
The vote “closes the hemp loophole that has resulted in the spread of unregulated intoxicating hemp derived products that are being sold online and in gas stations and corner stores across the country,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the chief sponsor of the ban language in the House.
Two Republicans joined all but six Democrats in opposing the funding bill that included the hemp THC ban: Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Florida Rep. Greg Steube, according to the House clerk.
“I detest the tactics that are being used to try to get this ban enacted into law,” Massie told Kentucky Public Radio prior to the vote.
Hemp THC ban will disrupt business for marijuana MSOs and mainstream
The ban leaves tens of thousands of hemp businesses across the country including those in states like Kentucky that regulate hemp THC – stranded in uncertain waters at best.
It may disrupt business plans for marijuana multistate operators like Curaleaf Holdings, which has a hemp-derived product and retail line, as well as mainstream retailers like Circle K and Total Wine & Spirits that carry hemp-derived beverages.
A spokesperson for Curaleaf did not comment to MJBizDaily about the ban’s effect on the company.
Some businesses are already dealing with canceled orders or other uncertainty, though most are ploughing ahead with their 2026 operating plans as-is, operators told MJBizDaily.
But the yearlong pause does give hemp advocates “365 days until all hemp products – including CBD oils – become Schedule 1 narcotics,” said Jim Higdon, the co-founder and chief communications officer at Kentucky-based Cornbread Hemp.
Closes 2018 Farm Bill loophole for THCA and synthetics like THC-P
Hemp is now redefined as only “the plant Cannabis sativa… and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids… with a total tetrahydrocannabinols concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”
That would close the THCA loophole that some merchants use to sell THCA flower online and outside of state-regulated marijuana channels.
The nationwide “THCA flower” market by itself is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to one estimate.