Cannabis News
Minnesota Hemp Businesses And Senators Say Federal THC Ban Will Hurt The State’s Economy
“Senator Klobuchar voted against the hemp provision because he believed it would hurt the state’s small businesses.”
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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Over the past week, many news organizations have been running exaggerated headlines about a supposed change by the federal government to allow marijuana to be brought into airports and airplanes. But it’s not true, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) tells Marijuana Moment.
“TSA’s policy on medical marijuana has not changed,” a TSA spokeswoman said in an email Wednesday.
“According to the TSA website: If any illegal substance or evidence of criminal activity is found during the security screening, TSA will refer the matter to law enforcement,” they said. While it’s true that the agency’s list of medical marijuana “What can I bring?” section of its website was updated on April 27, there were no major changes in policy.
Currently, the website says “Yes,” passengers can carry medical marijuana in carry-on and checked bags with special instructions. But the TSA cannabis policy has said “Yes” to medical marijuana, with the same caveats, since 2019.
Read more at Marijuana Moment
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Alabama Officials Move To Delay Automatic Rescheduling Of Marijuana Under State Law Following Trump’s Federal Move
California officials are making additional reforms to help the state’s marijuana businesses take advantage of federal tax and other benefits under the Trump administration’s redistricting move.
Specifically, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) proposed emergency regulations on Monday to allow companies with current licenses that use both medical and adult marijuana to secure a secondary license through a simplified process to separate the segments of their operations, as federal planning changes currently only cover medical cannabis.
Under the DCC’s proposal, marijuana companies could “create a second entity and hold two separate licenses (one for adult use and one for medicinal use) on the same premises” under the expedited regulations.
“DCC is working to make this pathway available due to the timing and uncertainty of the federal process,” the department said. “Additional operational components (such as tracking and tracing requirements, local permitting, tax collection, and other implementation issues) are still being evaluated and will be addressed through future guidance or rulemaking as needed.”
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