Dozens of Attorneys General in the USA have signed a letter calling for Congress to clarify the federal definition of hemp to leave no doubt intoxicating hemp-derived THC products are illegal.
The 2018 Farm Bill defined hemp as any part of the cannabis plant or its derivatives containing no more than 0.3% delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9 THC) on a dry-weight basis.
The specific mention of delta-9 left the door open for the proliferation of products containing other intoxicating forms of THC made widely available, including to children, such as delta-8, delta-10, THC-O, THCP, and HHC. While hemp is naturally very low in such compounds, they can be created through manipulating cannabidiol (CBD) derived from hemp.
“As a result, shelves and display cases in gas stations, convenience stores, and other retail locations throughout our states are stocked to the brim with potent, psychoactive THC products—often packaged and sold in ways meant deliberately to appeal to children,” states the letter.
Calling the situation a “grievously mistaken interpretation”, the AGs say Congress never intended to legalize such products in the 2018 Farm Bill.
“The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 legalized industrial hemp for commercial use,” the letter states. “Congress’s goal was to allow for the production and sale of industrial hemp as a nonintoxicating commodity while leaving in place the vital and longstanding prohibition on the use of cannabis products.”
While various states have been scrambling to cram the genie back in the bottle in their own jurisdictions, the letter states this approach can’t solve the problem.
“Such efforts can only lead to an uneven and ineffectual patchwork of bans and regulations that differ from State to State and will not stop the flood of mail-order THC products from streaming through interstate commerce. Congress
must act to salvage the 2018 Farm Bill’s laudable legalization of commercial hemp from the psychoactive hemp industry’s spoliation of the Bill’s hemp provision.”
The signatories argue a clarification on the definition won’t hold back the cultivation of hemp for industrial and agricultural uses as these plants don’t contain intoxicating levels of THC in any form.
The full letter, signed by a bipartisan coalition of 39 Attorneys General, can be viewed here.
On the flip side, 35 Members of Congress last month sent letters urging strong opposition to language contained in the FY26 Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Bill that they say would “deal a fatal blow” to American farmers supplying the regulated hemp industry and small businesses.
