The federal hemp ban lands in two stages: the DEA’s rescheduling hearing could restart and Massachusetts votes on whether to end adult-use sales. Here’s what’s coming in the next six weeks, and when.
The next six weeks will reshape what you can buy, where you can buy it and who gets to sell it. Most of the dates are set. A few can still move.
To build this list, we leaned on Deadlines, Decoded, a new free monthly calendar of state and federal cannabis policy dates from THC Group, the consulting firm behind the daily Policy, Decoded newsletter. Every date it carries links to the law, rule or court order that set it. We checked each one below against those sources.
October 29 and November 5: Rescheduling Gets Back on the Clock
The DEA’s administrative hearing on moving all marijuana to Schedule III has been on hold since September 29. On October 22, the presiding judge admitted a new Government Accountability Office report to the record but refused to reopen the hearing for more testimony. Briefs on the report are due October 29, replies on November 5, and the stay runs until that briefing closes. After that, the judge can issue a recommendation. The final call belongs to the DEA Administrator.
This is separate from the April 2026 Justice Department rule that already moved FDA-approved and state-licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III. The hearing is about everything else, including adult-use.
November 3: Massachusetts Votes on Repeal
Question 8 asks Massachusetts voters whether to end legal adult-use sales. A yes vote would shut down recreational retail, along with its regulation and taxation, starting in 2028. Adults 21 and older could still possess up to one ounce, plus five grams of concentrate, and grow at home, though the limits would drop from today’s two ounces and six plants. Medical sales would continue, and adult-use dispensaries could apply for medical licenses on an expedited basis, according to WBUR.
The polls favor the status quo. A September University of New Hampshire survey found 71% of voters planned to vote no.
November 12: The Hemp Ban, Part One
Section 781, the federal rewrite of the hemp definition that Congress passed last November, was supposed to land all at once. In September, Congress split it. The stopgap spending law President Trump signed on September 2 delayed some provisions by a month and left others in place, as Vicente LLP lays out.
What still hits November 12: the ban on intermediate hemp-derived cannabinoid products, and on finished products containing cannabinoids the plant can’t produce on its own. That’s the synthetic end of the shelf.
Several states move the same day:
- Illinois: the new Illinois Hemp Act replaces the old Industrial Hemp Act, and finished products with more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container stop counting as hemp, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
- Missouri: under HB 2641, intoxicating hemp products above 0.4 milligrams of THC per container are reclassified as marijuana and can only be sold in licensed dispensaries. Hemp THC drinks get a reprieve until December 11, MJBizDaily reports. A federal lawsuit challenging the law is pending.
November 13: New Jersey Pulls Hemp Drinks From Liquor Stores
Bars and liquor stores in New Jersey can sell intoxicating hemp beverages until November 13. From November 14, any hemp beverage with more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container counts as cannabis, must be made by a licensed cannabis manufacturer and can only be sold in licensed cannabis dispensaries, according to the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
That date could still slide. A bill that would push it to December 11 to match the federal deadline passed the state Senate 37-0 on October 22, according to Deadlines, Decoded. It still needs an Assembly floor vote and the governor’s signature.
December 11: The Hemp Ban, Part Two
This is the big one. On December 11, the rest of Section 781 takes effect. Hemp gets measured by total THC, at 0.3% by dry weight, instead of delta-9 alone. And finished hemp-derived cannabinoid products are capped at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container.
For scale, many hemp THC gummies and seltzers carry 5 milligrams or more per serving. At 0.4 milligrams per container, most of what sits on gas station and liquor store shelves today stops being legal hemp.
Missouri’s hemp drinks move into licensed dispensaries the same day.
What Could Still Change
A bipartisan House bill introduced in July by Reps. Andy Barr and Angie Craig would replace the Section 781 ban with a federal regulatory framework for hemp-derived consumer products. A Senate companion is expected, according to Deadlines, Decoded. Court fights over state hemp restrictions are also active in Missouri, Ohio and Texas, and any of them could change what’s enforceable in those states before December 11.
We’ll update as dates move. If you want them in your inbox, Deadlines, Decoded sends one email on the last Tuesday of each month covering the next 45 days. The first issue goes out October 27.
