An amendment added to the House's version of the Farm Bill could end America's "brief experiment" with cannabis, essentially collapsing a $28 billion industry, The Hill reported.
Introduced by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., the amendment attached to the bill, which passed Friday in the House Agriculture Committee, seeks to overturn a 2018 law that allowed the cultivation of intoxicating cannabis due to vagueness in the bill's language.
A coalition of 22 state attorneys general wrote to Congress in March that the 2018 version of the Farm Bill led to the explosion of "a massive gray market worth an estimated $28 billion" and needed to be shut down. They argued the law forced cannabis-equivalent products into states' economies without considering local regulations and consumer protections.
Miller's amendment, co-sponsored by Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., narrows the definition of legal hemp to nonintoxicating cannabinoids, excluding products like delta-8 THC.
Miller said she is "proud my amendment was included to close the loophole that has allowed drug-infused THC products like Delta-8 to be sold to teenagers in packaging that looks like candy. We must stop teenagers and children from being exposed to addictive and harmful drugs."
The hemp industry, viewing the amendment as a threat, urged representatives to oppose the Farm Bill unless the amendment is removed. The Hemp Roundtable referred to the language as "hemp industry-killing."
Nick Koutsobinas ✉
Nick Koutsobinas, a Newsmax writer, has years of news reporting experience. A graduate from Missouri State University’s philosophy program, he focuses on exposing corruption and censorship.
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