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Minnesota Hemp Businesses And Senators Say Federal THC Ban Will Hurt The State’s Economy

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4 weeks ago

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“Senator Klobuchar voted against the hemp provision because he believed it would hurt the state’s small businesses.”

By Ana Radelat, MinnPost

Minnesota has a growing industry of intoxicating hemp products, including soft drinks and gummies. A product ban making its way through Congress in a bill that would reopen the federal government.

The bill gives the industry 365 days before all products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC (a trace) are outlawed. Christopher Lackner, president of the Hemp Beverages Alliance, hopes to give the industry time to push back against the provision, which he called “arbitrary” and “punitive.”

He said he’s betting on “the pushback from consumers, suppliers and distributors and everyone else in the supply chain” that a ban on THC-infused products made from hemp will cause.

“Our hope as an industry is that Congress will come back and meet with all the stakeholders and build a federal hemp beverage framework that worksLackner said.

The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp, removing it from the federal definition of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act and treating it as an agricultural commodity. It also opened the doors to the production of “modifying” products derived from hemp.

Minnesota led the nation in harnessing the redefinition of hemp. Whitney Economics’ Latest report on THC beverages It estimated total US THC beverage sales to exceed $1.1 billion in 2024, and Minnesota was a key state in that growth.

Success has come at a price, however. Competing industries, mostly the nation’s nascent legal marijuana industry and, more recently, the beer and spirits industries, furiously lobbied to shut down what they saw as “the loophole”. in the 2018 Farm Bill that has led to an explosion of hemp-infused products.

The marijuana and alcohol industries say hemp products are largely unregulated and some contain dangerous amounts of THC. They also say there are no labeling and marketing restrictions or efforts to keep THC-infused drinks and edibles away from children.

On Monday, the Beer Institute, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and other alcohol trade groups He sent a lobbying letter to members of CongressSen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., urging the rejection of an amendment that would have removed the bill’s blackout language.

“Producers of alcoholic beverages, one of the top consumer products, are asking the Senate to reject Paul’s attempts to allow hemp-derived THC products to be sold across the country without federal regulation and oversight,” the letter said.

Their argument won the day.

The legislation that would have ended the shutdown includes three appropriations bills in fiscal year 2026 to fund various government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where the hemp provision was inserted. All other federal agencies would receive short-term funding — through the end of January — under a continuing resolution, or CR.

While the hemp industry lost the lobbying battle, it gained supporters in the US Capitol. Paul, for example, blocked Senate GOP leaders from getting unanimous approval to fast-track the shutdown bill, which overcame a six-week Democratic gridlock on a 60-40 vote Sunday afternoon.

The US Senate voted to table—or reject—the Paul amendment, 76-24. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D) and Tina Smith (D) of Minnesota were in the minority in support of the effort to remove the hemp language.

“Senator Klobuchar voted against the hemp provision because he believed it would harm the state’s small businesses and because Congress’ efforts to regulate hemp products should take into account states like Minnesota that already have strong regulations,” a Klobuchar spokesperson said.

Lackner also said lawmakers in Congress were trampling on states’ rights to regulate intoxicating hemp products.

“This is a slap in the face to states like Minnesota that have developed regulatory frameworks based on stakeholder input,” he said.

The hemp switch is wrong from every angle‘

Steve Brown, CEO of Nothing but Hemp, a Northeast Minneapolis-based company that makes THC-infused gummies and drinks, brewery emulsions and a variety of other hemp-based products, said the shutdown bill could spur a move into the marijuana industry.

That said, if President Donald Trump signs the legislation, as expected, the manufacture and sale of its products will be illegal under federal law, and it will have a major impact on its market.

Brown said liquor stores could not offer any of his drinks on the shelves. Microbreweries, which have tried to combat declining beer sales by offering THC drinks that are more popular than alcohol among young people, would be breaking federal law if they continued to offer such libations.

And retail stores, including Target, would likely stop selling THC-infused drinks and other products because customers wouldn’t be able to pay for them with credit cards due to federal banking rules.

Shipping THC-infused products across state lines would also be against federal law.

“I think it’s wrong from every angle,” Brown said of the hemp provision in the shutdown legislation.

Brown said he manufactures about 2 million cans a year and that his THC-infused beverage operation is small compared to other Minnesota companies.

He said he started his business in a kiosk with a sign that read “Try CBD,” a non-intoxicating hemp ingredient that is praised for its medicinal value. If hemp-infused drinks and edibles are outlawed, Brown says he’s preparing to turn Nothing but Hemp, which has 60 employees, into a marijuana business.

Jim Taylor, a spokesman for the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management, said “any draft or proposed (hemp) language is being reviewed to see its impact on Minnesota.”

“This is a complex policy issue, and we are reviewing it with the Attorney General,” Taylor said.

Just signed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison a letter They said unregulated THC products pose a threat to the general public along with 38 other attorneys general.

David Ladd, president of the Minnesota Industrial Hemp Association, said his group has tried to be as neutral as possible on the issue. But he said the state’s hemp growers also don’t want to “stifle innovation and investment” in hemp, which can be used to produce a variety of products, including biofuels, paper and textiles.

“I get regulations and sponsors for hemp products,” Ladd said. “But an arbitrary change in the definition of hemp is no substitute for measured regulation.”

The US Senate gave final approval to the shutdown bill late Monday. The legislation now heads to the US House, where Minnesota’s Democratic House members are expected to join the state’s two Democratic senators — Klobuchar and Smith — to reject the legislation.

So the longest government shutdown is on its way to an end after eight moderate Democrats in the US Senate dropped their opposition to the bill. GOP leaders said they offered a fair deal because the legislation would protect programs from Trump’s budget cuts and the Affordable Care Act subsidy extension promised by Senate Leader John Thune (R-SD) in exchange for Democrats’ votes to reopen the government.

This led to an onslaught of criticism from Democratic colleagues and Democratic voters.

Rep. Angie Craig, D-2. Barrutiko, for example, posted on social media “If people think this is a ‘deal’, I have a bridge to sell you.”

This the article appeared for the first time MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.

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US (FL): Cannabis company countersues competitor for AI-fabricated extortion

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21 hours ago

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December 9, 2025

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Leafwell Inc. filed a federal lawsuit against medical marijuana company My Florida Green, alleging that its competitor used artificial intelligence to make legal claims as part of an extortion scheme designed to harm Leafwell’s business. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court…

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Maine Officials Approve 2026 Ballot Initiative To Largely Repeal Marijuana Legalization Law For Signature Collection

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21 hours ago

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December 9, 2025

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Maine officials have given permission to prohibition activists to begin gathering signatures for a proposal A ballot initiative that would roll back the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law. The measure, if passed, would also overhaul the regulatory structure of the medical cannabis program by establishing product testing requirements.

The proposal — called the “Cannabis Legalization Act and Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act” — is a revamped version of a marijuana initiative introduced in September, sponsored by a Republican state senator and a former top staffer for then-Gov. Paul LePage (R), staunch prohibitionist.

The latest proposal, a petition approved by the Secretary of State on Monday, would remove and amend multiple sections of the current state statute, which voters approved in 2016 to effectively repeal the legalization of recreational marijuana sales.

Adults over the age of 21 would remain legal to possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis under the proposal, but a section of the law allowing home cultivation would be repealed. The sale and home cultivation of medical marijuana would be legal.

Madison Carey, who was listed as a lead petitioner in the original version of the repeal initiative and remains involved in the current campaign, told Marihuana Momenti on Tuesday that “there needs to be regulation of marijuana,” arguing that her own experience recovering from opioid misuse disorder speaks to the inadequacy of the current law.

“My hope is to raise awareness of the reality of the potential dangers of not having regulation,” he said. “I think people are fed up with the constant use — the constant (retail businesses) coming up where people can legally buy marijuana.”

Of course, repealing the voter-approved law that established the adult-licensed sales system would eliminate the current regulatory infrastructure in place, which reform advocates say helps mitigate public health and safety risks associated with the illegal market.

Rep. David Boyer (R), who led the fight to get a cannabis legalization initiative on Maine’s ballot in 2016 when he was a staff member at the Marihuana Policy Project, said voters should refuse to sign petitions for the new initiative.

“Don’t stop Maine’s progress, don’t stop signing this unfair repeal initiative,” he told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday. “Repealing the legalization of cannabis would shut down an industry larger than lobsters, potatoes and blueberries combined, costing our state jobs, revenue and economic growth.”

According to the new measure, the director of the Office of Cannabis Policy will “advance policies that promote the health and welfare of the people of the state and protect their health and safety, emphasizing the health and welfare of minors as a priority consideration in the performance of all duties.”

They should also “ensure that eligible patients maintain access to high-quality, effective, and affordable medical cannabis under this Act.”

Under the proposal, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services would create a testing program for cannabis products that would require dispensaries and dispensaries to send those products to a licensed facility for safety evaluation before dispensing them to qualified patients.

The testing facility “should ensure that cannabis or cannabis products do not exceed acceptable levels of contamination for any contaminants that are harmful to health and require testing and ensure proper labeling.”

“The department shall adopt rules establishing a testing program under this section, rules identifying the types of pollutants harmful to health, which must be tested for cannabis and cannabis products under this chapter, and rules regarding the maximum level of contamination for each pollutant,” the vote said. the initiative the text says

Additionally, regulators should administer a system to track cannabis plants from seed to the point of retail sale or disposal. That system “should be able to track cannabis plants in groups during the cultivation phase and when passing from the cultivation phase to another registrar”.

Entrepreneurs must submit at least 67,682 valid voter signatures by February 2, 2026 to be eligible for next year’s ballot. If approved by voters, the initiative would take effect on January 1, 2028.

—
It’s Marijuana Moment tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelic and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters by pledging at least $25/month, you’ll get access to our interactive maps, charts, and audio calendars so you never miss a development.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracking and become a Patreon supporter to gain access
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Maine lawmakers passed a bill in June legalize possession of an ounce of psilocybin Adults over 21 years of age.

After a different effort in the state last year legalize psilocybin and allow adults to access the psychedelic in state-licensed facilities. But lawmakers watered down that bill—instead, they changed it to create a committee to study further reforms—and in the end it was not approved.

Meanwhile, Maine legislators in February A top marijuana official voted to investigate possible conflicts of interest.

And last year, the law that allowed people came into force now apply for legal marijuana crime records to be sealed.

Marijuana Moment is made possible with the help of readers. If you rely on our pro-cannabis journalism to stay informed, consider a monthly Patreon pledge.

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By concentrating our portfolio, we create room for innovation and growth

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2 days ago

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December 8, 2025

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Viscon transfers the range fork product portfolio to Flier






Viscon Plant Technology will transfer its spacer fork product portfolio (including spacer forks and fixed forks) to Flier Systems effective January 1, 2026.

“The furrows are a proven solution for spacing within the sector. By transferring this portfolio to Flier Systems, the technology will remain available to both existing and new customers, with continued quality and support. Flier Systems will take over development, sales and technical service, while Viscon Plant Technology focuses on its core activities,” the team says.

© Viscon

“The transfer of the fields is a deliberate strategic step to strengthen our focus on automation solutions for plant growers and young breeders. In addition to concentrating our portfolio on technologies such as tissue culture automation, phenotypic sorting and somatic embryogenesis automation, we create room for further innovation and growth. We are pleased to have found a reliable and dedicated partner in Flier Systems,” said Nigela, who will continue the same product portfolio. Viscon Plant Technology.

“Acquiring spacer forks fits perfectly into our strategy to automate the entire production process for professional plant growers. Having just introduced the upgraded SPH transplanter/sorter, we have already taken an important step in the automation of potted plants. Acquiring spacer forks is a logical addition as it allows us to offer a complete and integrated package. Viscon,” said Ad Kranendonk, Flier Systems.



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