The Funding Bill that ended the Government Shutdown could also end the Hemp Industry

WASHINGTON DC -- The funding bill that ended the shutdown last week included a last-minute provision, written by Sen. Mitch McConnell, that would ban nearly all hemp products currently on store shelves.

While supporters of this provision say it’s about safety, experts are warning that the consequences of a THC ordinance this strict could decimate an entire farming industry.

The current bill bans any hemp product containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC. This would cause roughly 95% of hemp products on shelves today to be considered Scheduled 1 narcotics.

“People were forced to make a decision between reopening the government or protecting hemp,” Jonathan Miller, General Counsel of the US Hemp Roundtable. “And so that was a very clever and manipulative way to ban hemp, right?”

Miller says the ban would wipe out a $28 billion dollar industry, eliminating 300,000 jobs, and cost state and local governments about $1.5 billion in tax revenue.

The proposed ban doesn’t take effect for a year, and lawmakers from both parties are already preparing alternative bills. Sen. Ron Wyden and Congressman Morgan Griffith are both expected to present alternatives to the ban in the coming weeks.

Even if the bill becomes law as it’s written now — it’ll likely be up to states to regulate the ban

“More than half the US population lives in states that have legalized cannabis for adults, and all of that activity is illegal under federal law however federal agencies…they’ve decided not to enforce those laws,” Beau Kilmer, Co-Director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. “So, a lot remains to be seen.”