The Government Reopens…
Nov. 12th, the U.S House finally passed H.R. 5871, Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act of 2026, which officially ended the government shutdown–lasting a record-breaking 43 days. This was the longest government shutdown in history, the previous record being 34 days, also during a Trump term. H.R. 5871 is a Continuing Resolution that addresses many parts of the government that require funding, some lasting through the end of January, and a few real appropriations bills acting until the beginning of FY2027.
…And The Hemp Industry Shutdown
Dec. 20th, 2018, President Trump signed the 2018 Farm bill into law, making the commercial production of hemp legal by amending the Controlled Substances Act to exclude hemp from under the umbrella of marijuana as long as it did not contain more than a 0.3% concentration of delta-9 THC “by dry weight.” This catalyzed the hemp industry by providing three loopholes for THC product sales as identified by CANNRA. The first is the 0.3% loophole, which allowed each container to contain varying amounts of THC because the percentage was based on dry weight. The greater the weight of a product, the more THC it is allowed to hold. Second is the THCA loophole, which is a little bit more of a chemistry lesson. Delta-9 THCA (tetrahydrocannabinol-acid), a non-psychoactive chemical, turns into delta-9 THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive chemical in cannabis, when heated. THCA is present in much greater amounts than THC in hemp plants. Even if THC concentration by dry weight is only 0.3% the THCA in hemp, when heated, can make the actual THC concentration 15%-20%. Lastly, there is the derivatives loophole. One of the derivatives of hemp is CBD, a non-psychoactive chemical, can be chemically transformed into derivatives like delta-8 THC, which are psychoactive; however, not as strong as delta-9 THC. In all, the language in the 2018 Farm bill allowed for these three “loopholes” or methods of production within the extremely lucrative hemp industry we have today.Â
H.R. 5871 now prohibits the sale of viable cannabis seeds and products with THC/THCA concentration greater than 0.3% by dry-weight, hemp-derived products that occur naturally or unnaturally, and hemp products with more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container. These stipulations criminalize nearly all currently existing hemp-derived products by closing the three loopholes described above. These provisions, added in the last moments of the government shutdown, amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 and will be effective in November 2026. Although states can create laws aligning themselves with these regulations before then.Â
Industry Perspectives
Dr. Julieta Rubio Hobbs, PhD, LPC-S, a holistic counselor at Lavanda Wellness, sees the benefits of having adequate access to cannabis products. She specifically highlights its use in treating PTSD, ”For people experiencing PTSD, cannabis can: decrease anxiety, improve sleep, and decrease nightmares. It’s important that people seek help from a mental health professional to help manage PTSD symptoms; however, research shows that integrative approaches, such as cannabis, have shown an improvement in PTSD symptoms.”Â
Ernesto Hernandez, MD, a hospitalist at Peterson Regional Medical Center, acknowledges that using THC for symptomatic management can be beneficial. For example, managing nausea or inducing appetite during chemo or radiation therapy. However, he also sees the dangers of chronic daily THC use: “We have had a significant increase in hospitalizations for people with chronic daily THC use developing severe cases of intractable nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain…it is called Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome.” He notes the irony in how it causes the very symptoms it has been used to treat, which makes it hard to communicate to patients that THC is the cause. Given this perspective, he sees the new regulations as beneficial to society.Â