Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A new limitation set on THC-based products by the new spending bill signed at the federal level could have a significant impact on an industry that has skyrocketed in recent years.
As part of the new federal spending bill that ended the government shutdown in Washington, a provision included in the bill has closed a loophole that allowed manufacturers to convert hemp into high-potency THC products. The limitation, which is now of no more than 0.4 milligrams per-container, essentially bans a majority of hemp products in the market at this time.
"Any of these hemp products that you've seen purchased at bodegas, at smoke shops, sometimes you can even see them in your local grocery stores, they might contain Delta-8, Delta-9, Delta-10, THCA. What this ban does is it effectively removes the ability to have those cannabinoids packed together to create the effects that we're feeling through hemp products. Now it's limited to a very, very small dose, which is at 0.4 milligrams per-container, where it used to be 0.3% of dry weight, which was a very different calculation in the way cannabinoids were combined to create the product," explained attorney Aleece Burgio of Colligan Law.
Burgio says for anyone in the hemp market, it's devastating news.
"Most people in hemp, they've been operating in a gray area for quite a bit of time, because the 2018 Agricultural Bill kind of gave free reign to states, and had this very generic definition. ... They're going to have to walk most of their products back," said Burgio with WBEN. "More than 85% of anything that is on the shelves is no longer compliant."
She adds those who are in the cannabis space, the recreational cannabis market may be more happy that the ban has happened, because they feel like it's less competition for the adult-use space.
Burgio is hopeful the federal government can provide more clarity with outlining adult-use cannabis, hemp products, medicinal cannabis, and have a cohesive regulatory pattern so it's easy to identify which products are which.
"There's a lot of ambiguity between what's hemp and what's adult-use cannabis, what's medicinal, what's adult-use cannabis. That's an unclarity problem for the federal government," Burgio said. "States try to, obviously, actively define that, but then again, now you're going to have state-by-state different definitions and different requirements, which is what we're going to see now moving forward, if states have adopted their own hemp programs."
While hemp and marijuana are so closely related, Burgio believes the way hemp is governed is going to be very much correlated to how marijuana gets governed at the federal level.
"I will say that it doesn't look good that we've now moved towards a hemp ban. We've definitely walked back regulations, especially with a lot of people who are in our space, looking to see, at least, a descheduliation of marijuana at some point," Burgio explained. "So right now, to be frank, I don't think anybody in our industry is cheering this on, because it has long-term implications for how we're going to see governance of this plant moving forward."
Burgio further notes this measure will not be implemented until next year, November 2026.