Congress Just Nuked Hemp—Here’s Why You Should Be Furious

Under the guise of a massive bill to reopen the government, the Senate and the President recently signed a ban on hemp. Along with defunding healthcare tax credits, they are coming for your CBD now too. The new law will make it illegal to produce or sell any hemp-derived products that include even a trace amount of THC–which includes nearly all CBD products. The new standard permits just 0.4mg of THC–per container. The prior limit, established in the 2018 Farm Bill, was 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis. This is an entirely new definition of what it means to be “intoxicating hemp”--adopted without input from the hemp industry.

Yep, they are effectively banning your CBD gummies. They are banning your CBD dog treats, CBD tinctures, CBD creams, CBD vapes, CBD flower, all of it. Industrial hemp, like the textiles Root for Hemp uses to make napkins, appears to be safe FOR NOW. But this shockwave will weigh heavy on every single hemp farmer considering putting seeds in the ground in a few months. Such significant new regulations, drafted without coordination with the emerging hemp industry, are bound to have seismic, unintended consequences on the $28 billion dollar industry. This is a catastrophic, existential threat to the sector and we need to treat this like a 5-alarm fire. 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

There is a 365-day clock on implementation of this ban, but November 12, 2026 will be here in a blink. We have time to fight for repeal, but our window narrows every day. As an industry, and as individual consumers of these products, we must do it in force. As the US Hemp Roundtable describes the mission: 365 to regulate, not ban.

hands of 3 different people each holding a hemp plant top and holding it in the sky. Hands of are diverse skin tone. Cloudy blue sky in the background.

Who Asked for This Mess?

If you’ve suspected Big Alcohol was behind it, there’s plenty of evidence suggesting they played a major role. They view hemp-derived beverages—CBD, hemp, and especially THCa drinks—as direct threats taking up shelf space, bar space, and consumer mindshare. (However, Small Alcohol–possibly including your local brewery–has expanded into the hemp drink space as a way to diversify and survive amidst declining alcohol use). It is important to remember that Big Alcohol donates heavily to both Republicans and Democrats.

But the real rub is this: hemp’s watershed moment was made possible, in part, by friendly fire within the hemp and cannabis space itself. Some cannabis businesses feel threatened by the rise of legal hemp products. They’re frustrated that cannabis operators must jump through extensive regulatory hoops—licensing, testing, tracking, taxation—while many hemp-derived products bypass those same barriers. In states with state-regulated THC markets, that frustration has turned into bad blood.

Instead of joining forces to push for a unified, fair, and legal marketplace for good actors on both sides, we turned on each other. Some cannabis advocates pressured Democrats to support the hemp ban as a way to eliminate competition. When Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) attempted to strike the ban from the bill, a large number of Democrats joined Republicans to block his amendment in a 76–24 vote.

Hemp field with male and female plant. This view is with camera low in field pointing towards sky, with tops of hemp plants in the skyline

Break Up With Your Silo Already

This is not just a fight for hemp folks or individual CBD patients. This is a shot across the bow at every single state that has legalized marijuana in the last 10 years. Nearly all CBD products will soon be under the purview of the Controlled Substances Act, giving the DEA even more enforcement power over both the cannabis and hemp sectors. We are all at risk now.

Over those 10 years, I have worked in both the cannabis space and in hemp. And for the 10 years prior to that, I worked in DC politics. Here’s the thing: it is bizarre that we sit in these silos at all. The distinction between high-THC plants (“cannabis”) and those with less than 0.3% THC (“hemp”) is not a natural distinction—it’s a recent legal invention. Imagine growing a blue flower and there’s suddenly a law that it can’t be more than 1% purple. Come on. Nature does not work that way. We are all growing and using different varieties of the same damn plant. It is so useful to humans that cannabis/hemp was among the very first plants domesticated—over 12,000 years ago—yet today’s silos echo Nixon’s Racist Drug War agenda far louder than anything occurring in nature.

Wake up.

Hemp and cannabis are the same plant, just expressing different characteristics that benefit humans in a thousand ways. From CBD helping with medical conditions like seizures and veterans with PTSD, to seniors and our beloved dogs with joint pain; from sustainable building materials and home goods like alternatives to paper towels; and yes, to those using THC to relax as an alternative to alcohol—it is all rooted in one magical plant that grows like a weed.

The Hemp–Cannabis Split Is Killing Us

This false dichotomy only serves to disempower both the hemp and cannabis industries. United, we have more power—and the powers-that-be fear our power.

Over-regulation and excessive taxation have already brought the once-bright cannabis sector to its knees. In response, many cannabis businesses have expanded into the hemp space to diversify and stabilize their companies. That lifeline was just amputated. A death blow to CBD and hemp farmers doesn’t just hurt one side of the industry—it accelerates the collapse of thousands of small businesses across the entire hemp–cannabis spectrum.

For what? So private equity can swoop in, hoover up brand assets and IP, and hand the oligarchy the keys to pharmaceuticalize the plant? I know that sounds like conspiracy-theory territory, but I’m watching acquisitions and rapid consolidation shut down small businesses throughout the cannabis sector—not just in Colorado, but across the country. After everything we’ve built, it’s devastating to witness.

Big business knows there is big money in both hemp and cannabis. The market will continue to exist in some form—but it risks being taken out of the hands of the people who cultivated it, nurtured it, and built these industries from the ground up.

We are watching the plant be absorbed by an oligarchy in real time.

We Don’t Need More Divisions—We Need One System

The problem isn’t hemp versus cannabis—the problem is a dual regulatory scheme that pits us against each other and creates unfair, uneven playing fields. Some in the cannabis sector pushed the federal government to bring more pain down on hemp to match the pain they face in an unfair system. That is an extremely short-sighted strategy.

Instead, we could choose a world where both sides operate under a unified, reasonable, fair, and safe regulatory environment—one that allows small businesses across hemp and cannabis to truly thrive. After all, our economy thrives when small businesses do.

The fates of cannabis and hemp are intertwined. It is ALL at risk right now. And it’s on all of us to fight back at the federal level—NOW.

The Texas Dress Rehearsal

There was a dress rehearsal for this fight in Texas this year. Advocates who successfully beat back a potential Hempocalypse in Texas offer a great blueprint for this fight. Hemp businesses, farmers, a flood of medical patients, including a ton of veterans, and others relentlessly lobbied the State Legislature and Governor. FOR MONTHS. In the end, advocates prevailed. (Not unscathed, however, read my full breakdown here)

Texas is the largest producer of hemp in the United States. Yes, Texas. Texas grow an estimated 15% of the U.S. Hemp. Texas have a $5.5 BILLION dollar hemp industry that employs 53,000 Texans though 8,500 Texas-based hemp businesses. And Texans unified and all rose up to resist draconian hemp bans and WON. The blueprint for our next battle is here.

Very close up view of a light skin colored hand holding hemp seeds. Red overalls in the background.

4 of the top 5 hemp growing states are deep Red States–Texas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Kansas. This means that Red State delegations know that hemp is a sizable part of their economies, so many of those Representatives in Congress are already a part of our coalition. Most of these states have already passed meaningful hemp regulations–in coordination with farmers and businesses in their states, but this federal move supersedes all that work.

Here’s How We Fight Back (Effectively)

CALL CONGRESS

This mess was created in DC, and DC must feel the backlash from everyone who has ever benefitted from legal access to hemp or cannabis. Your Representative and Senators need to hear from you—loudly and relentlessly. We have less than one year to force a repeal. The clock is ticking, so time to act is right now.

Call the main switchboard for Congress: 202-224-3121
Look up your Representative’s direct line (and save it to your contacts)

Look up how your Senator voted on striking this ban from the funding bill

Here is a simple call script: “I am calling to ask Representative/Senator (NAME) to support a repeal of the hemp and CBD ban. This affects me because I am a patient/business owner (INSERT PERSONAL IMPACT). Thank you for listening.”

It’s truly that easy—so please call more than once.

SUPPORT HEMP BUSINESSES

Running any hemp business is hard. Banking is still difficult, insurance is expensive, social media restrictions are relentless, and stigma persists. The new ban is existential for most hemp companies. I’m not naïve enough to think textiles or building materials will be unscathed during this sledgehammer approach.

You can support hemp businesses today by buying their products and helping them maintain cash flow as they navigate this storm. We hold the power of the purse—vote with your dollars and choose hemp whenever you can. Those small decisions sustain small operators like us.

JOIN THE ONE PLANT ALLIANCE

I was thrilled to see the One Plant Alliance emerge in the immediate aftermath of the ban. It is long past time for the hemp and cannabis industries to stand together and advocate for three shared pillars of responsible regulation:

Testing – Ensure product safety

Labeling – Empower informed consumer choice

Age Verification – Protect youth while preserving adult access

If your business touches this industry, consider joining the One Plant Alliance.

The Fight is Not Over

The future is in our hands—but only if we unite and rise to meet this moment. The silver lining of this existential threat is that it could be a catalyst to unifying cannabis and hemp advocates.

This plant belongs with The People, and we have come too far, fought too hard, and built too much to back down now. The fight is not over. Right now it is the moment to TURN UP THE VOLUME.

Lauren Gibbs wearing red overalls and black t-shirt. Her hand is extended reaching out to a hemp plant. She is standing in a hemp field