US Attorneys General Urge Congress on CBD Rules

US attorneys general urge Congress to refine the definition of hemp and CBD to prevent intoxicating THC products.

A bipartisan group of 39 US attorneys general have petitioned Congress to define the federal definition of hemp, with the view that there exist loopholes that allow intoxicating THC items of CBD to be sold throughout the entire country.

In 2018, industrial hemp containing less than 0.3% of delta-9 THC was legalized by the Farm Bill. Nonetheless, with the exclusion of other psychoactive substances, a flood of products, including delta-8 and THC-O, emerged, most of them made out of hemp-based CBD. Frequently stocked in the convenience stores, such products have been criticized as appealing to the underage and confusing legal hemp with illicit cannabis.

The letter threatens that bans on a state level will result in inconsistent regulation and encourages federal intervention to make CBD a nonintoxicating agricultural product. The coalition said that the Congress should take action to maintain the original purpose of the Farm Bill.

In the meantime, 35 members of Congress have recently objected to a code in an appropriations bill, which, they assert, would damage American hemp growers and small businesses dealing in CBD.

The controversy highlights the current conflict between consumer safety, hemp innovation and high-speed contingent CBD market development.