The agreement to end the federal government shutdown includes a ban on intoxicating hemp products, effectively eliminating the industry, according to critics of the provision.
Hemp products have been legal since 2018, and some have been critical of “loopholes” allowing manufacturers to produce intoxicating products that have since been regulated in some states.
There has been debate over regulation in Illinois.
The cannabis industry favors a ban. The hemp industry has sought regulation.
The Illinois Senate passed a ban. The legislation was not called for a vote in the House.
Senator Rand Paul, republican from Kentucky, sought to prevent the ban, noting that any products with more than .4 milligrams of THC are included.
“That would be nearly 100 percent of the existing market,” he said on the Senate floor. “The numbers put forward in this bill will eliminate 100 percent of the hemp products in our country. That amounts to an effective ban because the limit is so low that the products intended to manage pain or anxiety will lose their effect.”
Another Kentucky republican, Senator Mitch McConnell, who championed the 2018 Farm Bill that included the hemp legislation, has been a leading proponent of the ban.
A statement from the Illinois Hemp Growers Association says, "The IHGA and its members are disappointed in the Senate-approved Continuing Resolution language that devastates the hemp industry, particularly small producers, and prioritizes special interests over agricultural innovation and family farms.”