The Republican-controlled U.S. Congress passed a spending bill to reopen the federal government that included making intoxicating hemp illegal.

The bill would ban all forms of THC and similar loophole cannabinoids like HHC, among many others, found in hemp. It would raise the technical limit from .3 to .4 percent THC. It would take a year to go into effect.

The deal was passed by the U.S. Senate first followed by the House of Representatives.

President Donald Trump previously endorsed the deal.

Republican Senators from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, have been at the center of the hemp controversy. McConnell has been against the intoxicating hemp industry, while Paul has been fighting to save it.

While McConnell initially championed hemp, he has reportedly been unhappy with the flourishing of what once was known as hot hemp for a while.

Paul tried to amend the spending bill to remove the anti-intoxicating hemp language. But it lost badly, 76-24, with bipartisan opposition and support.

Intoxicating Hemp Issues

Industrial hemp with less than .3 percent Delta-9 THC was first made legal to process in the 2018 Farm Bill signed into law by Donald Trump during his first term as President.

The catch was that they did not know enough about hemp to regulate it.

Delta-9 THC is the most well-known cannabinoid that gets you high in weed. When that was made illegal, enterprising scientists then found a lot of other cannabinoids that get you high, Delta-8 THC and THCA being the most well-known ones.

This quickly led to a boom in an industry.

Several national hemp seltzer brands have reached out to Heady NJ and sent can samples for review and been reviewed.

They have become very popular among casual cannabis consumers versus longtime aficionados and connoisseurs, better known as potheads.

Overall, they’re pretty good for a light buzz via drinking and similar to each other.

Hemp Business Problems

According to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, it would hurt a $28.4 billion industry and jeopardize more than 300,000 American jobs.

They also said it would shutter small businesses and American farms and cost states $1.5 billion in lost tax revenue.

The Hemp Roundtable also thinks it would hurt non-psychoactive CBD product sales

“Seniors, veterans, and many other consumers who depend on hemp for their health and well-being would be violating federal law,” they said.

During the one-year proposed moratorium, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable said it will try to reverse the ban.

They conceded the need to crack down on misleading and synthetic products, protect children, and promote standard manufacturing practices.

“Our industry is being used as a pawn as leaders work to reopen the government. Recriminalizing hemp will force American farms and businesses to close and disrupt the well-being of countless Americans who depend on hemp,” said Jonathan Miller, U.S. Hemp Roundtable General Counsel.

Hating Intoxicating Hemp

The opposition to intoxicating hemp has been building for a while. A committee in the House of Representatives was eager to ban intoxicating hemp in June.

Different states have also been pressuring Congress to crack down on hemp. In addition, 39 Attorneys General sent a letter to Congress urging it to make intoxicating hemp illegal.

NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin was not among them.

The multibillion-dollar alcohol industry, known as  Big Booze, and others have been lobbying intensely on intoxicating hemp seltzer drinks. Half of Big Booze wants to eliminate the competition, and half want a cut or a percentage of the profits.

New Jersey has been trying to regulate intoxicating hemp for some time now. They banned it, but the industry sued and won some concessions. So the debate has been ongoing.

Several cannabis advocates and entrepreneurs have been against intoxicating hemp and will likely be happy about this.

However, longtime national cannabis advocate Steve D’Angelo believes this to be a divide-and-conquer strategy by anti-marijuana lobbyists.

The Republican Congress is also ruining Affordable Care Act healthcare plans by cutting subsidies. So it will likely affect many official and unofficial cannabis patients who are treating a range of symptoms.

The federal government had been shut down for 42 days, the longest ever in American history.