“I believe this ban will save a generation from getting hooked on dangerous drugs.”
By Marijke Friedman, The Texas Tribune
As part of the spending deal to end the government shutdown, federal lawmakers approved a provision cracking down on hemp products containing THC, restoring a ban Texas Republicans sought to impose earlier this year.
The funding package, passed by the U.S. House and signed into law by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, includes language banning the sale of hemp-derived products with more than 0.4 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive element in marijuana. The measure would criminalize almost all consumable hemp products nationwide.
The provision was added at the last minute to a bill that provides yearlong funding for the Department of Agriculture. It closes what proponents of the ban call a “loophole” from the 2018 Farm Bill that allowed the hemp industry to take off without federal regulations. Unless Congress reverses course, the ban is set to start a year after the legislation goes into effect.
Opponents of the provision warn it will effectively shut down Texas’ $8 billion hemp industry and the thousands of jobs associated with the sale of consumable THC products.
In the lead-up to
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