Last night, the Senate passed a continuing resolution along with three appropriations bills, one of which, an agriculture appropriations bill, effectively shut down the US hemp industry.

Growers use the plant Cannabis sativa to produce both hemp and marijuana. Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, Congress classified “marihuana” (spelled that way in the statute) as a Schedule I controlled substance and defined it broadly enough to include all parts of the Cannabis sativa L. plant and its derivatives. Only the mature stalks, fiber, sterilized seeds, and products made from them—materials with negligible THC and no psychoactive properties—were exempt. As a result, non-intoxicating hemp was treated no differently than marijuana, and growing it legally required a DEA license, which effectively banned commercial production.

That changed with the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed hemp—defined as cannabis containing no more than 0.3 percent delta-9-THC by dry weight—from the Controlled Substances Act and finally legalized its cultivation and interstate commerce under federal law. Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, both from Kentucky, now one of the nation’s largest hemp producers, championed the reform.

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