特朗普总统签署的联邦支出法案中一项鲜为人知的条款可能会颠覆一个蓬勃发展的行业禁止许多注入四氢大麻酚的产品，像口香糖、饮料、局部止痛药和vapes，现在从加油站到健康商店随处可见。
大麻是大麻植物的衍生物，在2018年的农业法案中合法化。它为THC的低剂量销售和在主流消费市场的爆发创造了一个漏洞。
支出法案中的新禁令禁止每个容器中含有超过0.4毫克四氢大麻酚的产品。
现在，大麻产业表示，后果将是毁灭性的。美国大麻圆桌会议警告该决定“威胁到美国284亿美元的大麻产业，并危及超过30万个美国就业岗位。”该组织估计，此举将消灭95%的市场，关闭全国范围内的小企业和农场，并耗费各州15亿美元的税收。
参议员兰德·保罗提出了一项修正案，从参议院的法案中删除这些语言，但参议院以压倒性的票数否决了保罗的修正案。
保罗说，这“对美国农民来说是最糟糕的时刻”，他在参议院警告说，这将“根除大麻产业”。
一位名叫斯泰西的大麻种植者在伊利诺伊州的伍德斯托克拥有一家公司，她在周四致电华盛顿日报C-Span，解释这将如何摧毁她的生意。她说，她出售的关节和肌肉药膏“不会让任何人兴奋——这是一种局部产品”，将被法律禁止。
“他们偷偷把它带进来，摧毁了这个行业。我的生意彻底完了，”她说。
“我有一年的时间来结束这项业务，没有人在谈论成千上万的人、农民、加工商和零售店。这将对整个经济产生难以置信的连锁反应。”
法案中该条款的支持者认为该条款早就应该出台了。参议院农业和拨款委员会的资深成员米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)认为，公司通过“从大麻中提取合法数量的THC，并将其转化为令人兴奋的物质”来“利用”这一漏洞。
这一观点得到了数十名司法部长的响应，他们发出了一份信上个月，美国国会警告说，2018年的农业法案“被坏人错误地利用，在全国范围内销售娱乐合成THC产品。”司法部长认为，这个漏洞助长了“一个监管不足的行业的快速增长，威胁到公众健康和安全，并破坏了全国的执法。”
然而，美国大麻圆桌会议称，超过90%的非致醉大麻衍生产品每容器含有超过0.4毫克。该组织称，这意味着老年人、退伍军人和其他依靠它们来缓解疼痛或睡眠的人会突然违反联邦法律去获取它们-"打乱了他们的护理，让他们争先恐后地寻找可能有害的替代品."
THC gummies and drinks face ban under provision in government spending bill
A little-noticed provision tucked into the federal spending bill signed by President Trump could upend a booming industry -- bybanning 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 Roundtablewarnsthat 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 Pauloffered 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 generals, who sent aletterto 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 generals 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 sleepwould suddenly be violating federal law to obtain them --“disrupting their care and leaving them scrambling for potentially harmful alternatives.”
