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THC gummies and drinks face ban under provision in government spending bill

43 minutes 8 seconds ago Friday, November 14 2025 Nov 14, 2025 November 14, 2025 1:13 PM November 14, 2025 in News
Source: ABC News

A little-noticed provision tucked into the federal spending bill signed by President Trump could upend a booming industry -- by banning many THC-infused products, like gummies, drinks, topical pain relief and vapes, now found everywhere from gas stations to wellness shops.

Hemp, a derivative of the cannabis plant, was legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill. It created a loophole for THC to be sold in low doses and explode in the mainstream consumer market.

The new ban tucked into the spending bill prohibits products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container.

Now, the hemp industry says the consequences will be devastating. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable warns that the decision “threatens to eliminate America’s $28.4 billion hemp industry and jeopardizes more than 300,000 American jobs.” The group estimates the move would wipe out 95% of the market, shut down small businesses and farms nationwide, and cost states $1.5 billion in tax revenue.

Sen. Rand Paul offered an amendment to strip the language from the Senate bill, but the Senate voted overwhelmingly to table Paul's amendment.

Paul said this "couldn’t come at a worse time for America’s farmers," warning on the Senate floor that this will “eradicate the hemp industry.”

A hemp farmer named Stacy, who owns a company in Woodstock, Illinois, called into the Washington Journal C-Span on Thursday to explain how this will devastate her business. She says the joint and muscle salve she sells, which "doesn’t get anybody high – it’s a topical product," would be banned under the law.

“They sneak that in and crush the industry. My business is completely over,” she said.

“I have one year to wind this business down and nobody is talking about the hundreds of thousands of people, farmers, processors, retail stores. This is going to have incredible ripple effects across the economy.”

Supporters of the provision in the bill argue it’s long overdue. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture and Appropriations Committees, argues that companies have “exploited” that loophole by “taking legal amounts of THC from hemp and turning it into intoxicating substances.”

That sentiment is echoed by dozens of attorneys general, who sent a letter to Congress last month, warning that the 2018 Farm Bill has been “wrongly exploited by bad actors to sell recreational synthetic THC products across the country.” The attorneys general argue the loophole has fueled the “rapid growth of an underregulated industry that threatens public health and safety and undermines law enforcement nationwide.”

Yet the U.S. Hemp Roundtable says more than 90% of non-intoxicating hemp-derived products contain more than 0.4 milligrams per container. This means, the group says, seniors, veterans and others who rely on them for pain management or sleep would suddenly be violating federal law to obtain them -- “disrupting their care and leaving them scrambling for potentially harmful alternatives.”

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