A new bill has been introduced by bipartisan members of Congress to reduce the regulations for farmers who grow industrial hemp, but not for extraction purposes.
Matt Rosendale (R -MT) is the sponsor of the Industrial Hemp Act. This act is a companion bill to a Senate-level version introduced by Sens. Jon Tester (D) and Mike Braun(R).
The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp and its derivatives, like CBD, that contained no more than 0.3% THC by weight. Regulation is the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The 2018 Farm Bill seeks to make a distinction between industrial hemp, which is grown to produce products such as fiber, and “hemp used for any purpose”, which includes crops that are cultivated for cannabinoids.
Farmers who grow industrial hemp will no longer have to undergo background checks to be able to participate in the marketplace, nor would they need to meet rigorous testing and sampling requirements.
They would instead have to undergo an annual inspection where they would be required to prove that they are growing the crop to a purpose that is covered by the new definition of “industrial hemp”. Those who fail the initial visual inspection will be required to submit documentation that demonstrates “clear intent and in-field practice consistent with industrial hemp designation”. The regulators would only be able to test the harvested plant material if they refused.
The measure precludes states and tribal governments from imposing requirements on industrial hemp farmers that are stricter than those set forth in the bill. The bill also states that anyone who intentionally produces hemp crops incompatible with their designated designation is ineligible for participation in the legal hemp sector for a five-year period.
The bill was introduced as the debate over the next version of the Farm Bill is heating up. Lawmakers will probably try to include provisions that ease the burdens on hemp, whose value dropped significantly last year according to USDA.
Stakeholders blamed FDA for economic decline, blaming the agency for not enacting regulations which would have allowed the marketing of cannabinoids derived from hemp in food and dietary supplements. FDA stated that it would need further congressional action in order to develop these rules.
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Rep. James Comer, R-KY, chair of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee sent a letter in March to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, announcing a probe into the agency’s decisions and criticizing the “insufficient reason for inaction” on CBD regulations .
Advocates are pressing Congress to pass legislation that addresses the issue. One such bill is a bipartisan one from Reps. Morgan Griffith, (R-VA), and Angie Craig, (D-MN), which would create a regulatory path for hemp derivatives including CBD.
Griffith and other bipartisan legislators wrote a separate letter to the FDA commissioner in 2013. The lawmakers expressed their frustration at the “completely inadequate response” that the FDA provided to their bill requesting hemp-derived CBD be allowed and regulated as an additive in food.
A group of House members introduced a bill that sought to stop what they called a “discriminatory federal policy” that prohibits people with previous felony drug convictions, from owning or running legal hemp businesses.
This is all happening in the context of FDA’s major task: Conducted a scientific review of marijuana at the request of President Joe Biden to help in assessing its federal schedule. FDA’s recommendation will not be binding. However, officials expect that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which is responsible for scheduling marijuana in federal law, will make a recommendation consistent with its findings.
Below, you can read the text relating to the Industrial Hemp Act:
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Photo by Brendan Cleak.
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