Here is an instant download of the free report From Import to Intoxicant: How China Exploited the Farm Bill “Loophole” and Helped Fuel America’s Synthetic THC Market [PDF, 23 pages, 8,947 words, author unknown].
Updating the the tens of thousands of PDFs in CannLib, I came across this excellent article on the current hemp THC market in the U.S., laying bare many of the policy and public health concerns I’ve also had with synthesizing THC and other intoxicating hemp cannabinoids ostensibly from hemp-sourced CBD, which Whitney Economics says is larger than the regulated marijuana market in the U.S.
When pressed, the industry responded to us not with data proving purity and safety, but with gaslighting, brigading, and miscellaneous BS.
Clearly, we need a bifurcation of the hemp industry into medicinal cannabinoids as completely separate from seed, stalks, and roots both legally and operationally. They require different genetics, agronomy, agricultural practices, equipment, post-harvest handling, processing, and product applications, therefore different laws. From oversight to fees to stigma, industrial hemp no longer requires the fear-based restrictions of yore, once medicinal cannabinoids are properly regulated.
However, this document has no attribution whatsoever anywhere as to the identity of the creator of it, not even in the 23-page PDF’s Properties. So if you wrote this, please let me know so that I can properly attribute it to you!
“From Import to Intoxicant: How China Exploited the Farm Bill “Loophole” and Helped Fuel America’s Synthetic THC Market
Executive Summary
The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp with the intent of creating a new domestic agricultural industry for American farmers. However, when lawmakers removed hemp and cannabinoids derived from hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, they failed to establish any trade barriers or import restrictions. This key oversight left the nascent U.S. hemp industry completely exposed to international competition.
When the farm bill passed, other countries – most notably China – already possessed robust hemp industries with global distribution networks. As discussed in this paper, Chinese producers quickly adapted to serve U.S. markets, ramping up extraction processing, and exporting CBD at scale at prices 50-80% below domestic production costs. While U.S. farmers invested millions in hemp cultivation expecting a new cash crop, Chinese manufacturers were already shipping industrial quantities of 99% pure CBD isolate directly to American processors.
However, CBD imported from other countries goes through no testing, tracking, or approval, creating a dangerous health and safety risk to those who consume products made from imports. According to industry leaders and as discussed here, most of the CBD used to create synthetic THC such as delta-8 THC comes from imported, usually Chinese, CBD. There is even cause for concern that the CBD imported into the US is not derived from hemp at all, but rather synthetically produced and shipped as a “hemp” product.
U.S. hemp farmers experienced a devastating boom-and-bust cycle from which they have never recovered. After initial oversupply crashed domestic prices in 2019-2020, most farmers abandoned hemp cultivation, with production plummeting 71% by 2022. When demand for CBD resurged, driven in part by the explosive growth of the synthetic THC market, U.S. companies often turned not to American farmers but to readily available, low-cost imports from China and other countries. Domestic infrastructure had already collapsed, and was now unable to compete with far cheaper and accessible Chinese CBD. This isn’t to argue that Chinese hemp was the primary cause of the failure of U.S. agriculture to widely adopt hemp, but it is clear that China was in a strong position to capitalize when the U.S. market did not materialize, and now undercuts U.S. efforts to compete.
Industry participants reported heavy reliance on imported CBD inputs as the synthetic THC market took off, particularly from China, with one industry leader claiming that Chinese imports account for 70% of the CBD used to create synthetic THC products. Unfortunately the exact share is unknown due to the absence of adequate tracking data in the form of CBD-specific import codes. This imported CBD serves as the chemical foundation for a $2.8 billion synthetic THC industry,1 yet arrives without testing, documentation, or any regulatory oversight.
China’s track record with exported consumer products is deeply troubling. Previous contamination incidents – including melamine-tainted infant formula that killed six babies and hospitalized 54,000,2 lead-painted toys affecting millions of children,3 and contaminated heparin causing 81 deaths4 – show the significant public health risk of accepting unregulated Chinese imports into the consumer product chain in the U.S. Unlike state cannabis programs that test every batch for pesticides, heavy metals, and contaminants, Chinese CBD enters the U.S. with no safety screening.
The health and safety risks are severe and immediate. Untested CBD isolate potentially contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, and industrial solvents is being chemically converted into synthetic THC products using acids and catalysts, creating unknown byproducts never evaluated for human safety. These products are sold in gas stations and online, marketed even to medical patients and other vulnerable populations, completely bypassing the comprehensive testing required in state-regulated cannabis markets. Emergency departments report increasing adverse events, yet without import tracking or product testing, the true scope of exposure remains hidden.
The Farm Bill’s failure to anticipate international competition has created the worst possible outcome: an unregulated multi-billion dollar intoxicants industry dependent on imported chemical precursors of unknown origin and quality, operating outside both agricultural policy goals and public health frameworks. American farmers are at a huge disadvantage competing, American consumers are at risk, and American regulators cannot even track what enters the country, much less its safety profile. Until Congress addresses this loophole and establishes proper import controls and safety standards, millions of Americans will continue consuming potentially contaminated products – a preventable public health crisis hiding in plain sight.”
Read more at: https://therichardrosereport.com/how-china-helped-fuel-americas-synthetic-thc-market/
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