Despite millions of dollars spent by the marijuana industry, Congress finally closed a loophole that had allowed intoxicating hemp products to spread across the country last year. Now, before the law has even taken effect, President Donald Trump and Senate leaders are trying to delay it.
The continuing resolution that will fund the government past November includes language postponing enforcement of the new hemp restrictions. The Senate should remove the delay and let the ban take effect as scheduled.
Congress deserves credit for passing the ban last year. The legislation corrected a dangerous mistake lawmakers made in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.
That law was intended to legalize the growing of industrial hemp for rope, clothing, and other nonintoxicating products. It was not intended to legalize marijuana nationwide.
But the statute defined legal hemp according to its concentration of delta-9 THC, the most common intoxicating chemical in marijuana. Creative drug manufacturers quickly exploited the language. They used supposedly legal hemp to produce delta-8 and other intoxicating THC compounds that Congress had not specifically prohibited.
These products rapidly became a multibillion-dollar industry.
THC gummies, drinks, vapes, and candies soon appeared in gas stations, convenience stores, and smoke shops nationwide. They were sold even in states whose voters had not legalized recreational marijuana. Many were packaged in bright colors and sweet flavors that plainly appealed to children.
Congress did not intend any of this.
Last year’s legislation restored the distinction lawmakers thought they had created in 2018. Hemp is an agricultural commodity. THC is an intoxicating drug.
The new law limits the amount of THC allowed in finished hemp products. Once it takes effect, most intoxicating hemp drinks and edibles will disappear from retail stores nationwide.
Good riddance.
Evidence that THC is far more dangerous than marijuana advocates want people to believe was strong when Congress passed the 2018 farm bill. It has grown stronger since then. THC impairs judgment, memory, coordination, and reaction time. Marijuana use contributes to car crashes and has been linked to psychosis, schizophrenia, addiction, and lasting damage to developing brains.
Modern marijuana is also far stronger than the drug used by previous generations. Hemp manufacturers have made matters worse by concentrating THC into gummies, beverages, and vaping products that make it easy for users to consume more than they intended.
Edibles are particularly dangerous. Their effects can take time to appear, encouraging people to ingest additional doses. Products that resemble candy also invite accidental poisoning of children.
These drugs should not have been sold next to potato chips and soft drinks.
Thirty-five state attorneys general have urged Congress not to delay, weaken, or repeal the new restrictions. They have seen firsthand the consequences of Congress’s mistake. Parents, police officers, doctors, and state officials have spent years cleaning up the mess created by Washington’s carelessness.
Unfortunately, Trump is now siding with the industry that profits from it.
The president has personally pressured senators to support the delay after another wave of spending by pro-pot lobbyists.
Trump should know better, as his administration supported closing the hemp loophole last year, and he has previously recognized that marijuana legalization produces more accidents and harms users’ intelligence. He was right then, and he is wrong now.
The marijuana industry claims it merely needs more time to adjust. That is nonsense. Congress passed the restrictions last year and gave businesses a year to prepare.
The real purpose of the delay is to give industry more time to lobby Congress, weaken the law, and preserve as much of the intoxicating hemp market as possible.
Fortunately, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) is fighting back.
“Let me be clear,” Budd said on the Senate floor this week. “I will not back down. I will not waver. I will not stop until this life-threatening hemp loophole is closed permanently. We must strip this amendment from the continuing resolution and regulate these harmful substances for what they are, not what the industry wants to call them.”
Other Republican senators should follow his example.
Congress made a mistake in 2018. It corrected itself last year.
It should not slide back now. The Senate should fund the government, remove the hemp delay, and let the ban take effect.