Here is my analysis of HR 4121, a bill to allow hemp to continue in the Farm Bill. [I’ve added my comments like this] and the bold text is my addition. It returns hemp to the definition we all had before, namely grain and fiber/hurd. The real question is what will it take for FDA to step-up and finally do its job regulating these products? These synthetic stony noids are just workarounds for marijuana prohibition in red states.
This is the industry’s chance to set a new course via this very same legislation, force FDA to regulate all noid products <0.3% THC as Dietary Supplements and blocked from enforcing the federal Food and Drug Control Act (FDCA) on chemicals from hemp.
Then harmonize max Total THC in hemp foods with Canada at 10 ppm, “THC-free” on the label. Farming max Total THC could then be raised to 1% with less risk of THC exploitation, making life easier for farmers.
There might be a few workarounds anyway: FDA doesn’t mess with solely intra-state sales, and that HIA v DEA 2004 ruling might help.
Alternatively, pollinate a Type 3 high-CBD “hemp” plant to make seeds, press those seeds with a bunch of flower material, and you’ll have a legal hempseed oil high in CBD and even legal (see 2004) THC if it is in the flower. Use that as the base for foods or meds. At a common 20:1, if you have 0.3% max THC then you will have 6% CBD in the hempseed oil. To get other noids into a product legally then breed it into the flower, that’s but one lesson from 2004.
H. R. 4121
A BILL
Making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes.
SEC. 759. Section 297A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1639o) is amended —
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (6) as paragraphs (4) through (8), respectively; and (2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
(1) HEMP. —
(A) IN GENERAL. — The term ‘hemp’ means the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a total tetrahydrocannabinol concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) of not more than 0.3 percent in the plant on a dry weight basis. [Total THC, not D9, same as Colorado grew a CBD industry under before the 2018 Farm Bill]
(B) INCLUSION. — Such term includes industrial hemp.
(C) EXCLUSIONS. — Such term does not include —
(i) any viable seeds from a Cannabis sativa L. plant that exceeds a total tetrahydrocannabinol concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) of 0.3 percent in the plant on a dry weight basis; [pot seeds] or
(ii) any hemp-derived cannabinoid products containing—
(I) cannabinoids that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant; [synthetic noids, say HHC]
(II) cannabinoids that— (aa) are capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant; and (bb) were synthesized or manufactured outside the plant; [THC chemically converted from CBD] or
(III) quantifiable amounts based on substance, form, manufacture, or article (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture) of —
(aa) tetrahydrocannabinol (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid); or
(bb) any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals as tetrahydrocannabinol (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary Agriculture). [ban stony noids but they have to figure out which and how much 1st, note that the ruling in HIA v DEA 2004 still protects cannabinoids “naturally and unavoidably” in hemp]
(2) INDUSTRIAL HEMP. — The term ‘industrial hemp’ means hemp —
(A) grown for the use of the stalk of the plant, fiber produced from such a stalk, or any other non-cannabinoid derivative, mixture, preparation, or manufacture of such a stalk; [stalk and nonviable seed has always been exempt]
(B) grown for the use of the whole grain, oil, cake, nut, hull, or any other non-cannabinoid compound, derivative, mixture, preparation, or manufacture of the seeds of such plant; [it’s a nut not a heart, doesn’t include Type 2 or 3 planting seed]
(C) grown for purposes of producing microgreens or other edible hemp leaf products intended for human consumption that are derived from an immature hemp plant that is grown from seeds that do not exceed the threshold for total tetrahydrocannabinol concentration specified in paragraph (1)(C)(i); [finally, hemp sprouts are legal!]
(D) that is a plant that does not enter the stream of commerce and is intended to support hemp research at an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) or an independent research institute; [breed pot at a Uni as hemp research] or
(E) grown for the use of a viable seed of the plant produced solely for the production or manufacture of any material described in subparagraphs (A) through (D). [planting seed for true hemp]
(3) HEMP-DERIVED CANNABINOID PRODUCT. —
(A) IN GENERAL. — The term ‘hemp-derived cannabinoid product’ means any intermediate or final product derived from hemp (other than industrial hemp), that —
(i) contains cannabinoids in any form; and [includes CBD, one solution might be to use a Type 3 plant as the base for a food, the CBD would be naturally and unavoidably in the food thus legal]
(ii) is intended for human or animal use through any means of application or administration, such as inhalation, ingestion, or topical application.
(B) EXCLUSION.—Such term does not include a drug that is the subject of an application approved under subsection (c) or (j) of section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355).’’. [Epidiolex]
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