Why Aren’t Regulators Doing More to Support Hemp Production?
Photo Credit © Jiri Hera - Stock.adobe.com
When the 2018 farm bill passed Congress and legalized hemp production in the United States, farmers, consumers, health advocates, and environmentalists cheered. After decades of being needlessly characterized as a harmful drug with no acceptable commercial use, hemp and hemp-derived products would finally get the support they deserved from regulators.
Unfortunately, the story for the hemp industry since then hasn’t been quite that rosy.
An Industry is Born
Unquestionably, the 2018 farm bill was a monumental step in the right direction. It was directly responsible for kicking off the current boom in CBD and some other hemp derivatives, but lack of further regulatory clarity from the federal level has forced hemp concerns to navigate an ever-evolving patchwork of state laws and made it difficult for them to plan ahead when there is still so much uncertainty as to when comprehensive, nationwide hemp regulation will arrive and what it will look like.
For example, though the FDA still hasn’t approved CBD for use in foods and dietary supplements for the whole country, some states have, such as Colorado. Others, like Montana, permit it for use in animal feeds, and Illinois allows its licensed marijuana businesses to buy and process hemp products, including CBD oil.
In May of this year, Robert M. Califf, the current head of the Food and Drug Administration, admitted to a Congressional oversight panel that the FDA has been woefully inactive and slow to respond to pressing consumer demand for hemp-based products and industry requests for more support and guidance from the government.
Despite the federal legalization of hemp four years ago, the regulatory landscape “...looks pretty much the same in terms of where we are now,” said Califf to a House Appropriations subcommittee.
Yet, he remains confident that regulation will be forthcoming because so much research has been done proving the safety and commercial value of hemp. “The amazing plethora of derivatives of the cannabis plant [are] surely quite profound and astounding and already in widespread use for a variety of means.”
Calif concluded his testimony by sharing the FDA’s strongly held desire to see hemp regulation taken up again in Congress, saying “I don’t think the current authorities we have on the food side or the drug side necessarily give us what we need to have to get the right pathways forward. We’re going to have to come up with something new. I’m very committed to doing that.”
Producers and Consumers Want More Certainty
It’s not just farmers and consumers that are frustrated by the lack of progress, elected representatives at the state and federal level want to see this issue addressed with greater speed and thoughtfulness. There is growing awareness that legal uncertainty is threatening to snuff out a fruitful and burgeoning industry just as it’s beginning to take root.
The FDA, for its part, keeps claiming it’s exploring every possible regulatory avenue that will help hemp producers grow their operations and build a thriving national marketplace for their products — as have a number of elected officials from both sides of the aisle.
From within the hemp industry, there are signs of hope that progress is coming at last.
Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, the largest domestic trade group advocating for hemp cultivators and processors, responded to the recent testimony before Congress, saying: “I’m quite encouraged by the tone of Commissioner Califf’s remarks—his frustration that nothing has been accomplished by the agency in the six years since he last served in that position, as well as his repeated commitment to identify pathways for CBD.”
Much more still needs to be done, however, because right now compliance issues abound in the hemp industry. The 2018 farm bill created a 0.3% cap on the allowable amount of THC (the compound that gives marijuana its psychoactive effects) on all legal hemp-derived goods and materials, including oral and topical CBD products, hemp grains used for foodstuffs, and textiles made from hemp fibers.
THC levels in cannabis (the plant from which non-psychoactive hemp and marijuana are derived) can fluctuate based on conditions outside of farmers’ control, such as the weather.
SolidarityHemp, a hemp advocacy group and processor in Virginia has called for the 0.3% THC limit to be raised to 1% to give farmers more leeway and prevent so-called “hot crops,” which are hemp crops found to be over the cap that, by law, must be destroyed when they are detected. A study in Virginia found that 18% of one year’s hemp crop tested “hot” and was not permitted to be marketed.
Virginia State Delegate Wendy Gooditis found that outcome to be unsatisfactory: “Someone’s got to do something to even out all these products and give the producers and the processors the guidelines so that they stay within the laws, so that they can get crop insurance and so that processors aren’t shut down for overstepping,” she said. “Everyone hates the word ‘regulation,’ but if we don’t regulate, we can’t support the growing industry.”
Hemp advocates argue that the FDA and Congress need to seriously consider exploring whether “hot” hemp can still be safely used in non-ingestible products like hempcrete (a biocomposite building material that can be used in place of concrete in some applications) and textiles like hemp-based clothing and rope.
The Time for Action Is Now
Nationwide hemp regulation should recognize the fact that farmers, who are dealing with volatile weather patterns, insects, and other threats to their crops, already have enough uncertainty to contend with when operating in the hemp industry. Regulations should be used to:
Make the rules of the road clear and simple to follow
Encourage further development in the national hemp marketplace
Instill greater trust in the public in the safety and efficacy of hemp-based products
It takes years for an emerging industry to blossom and no market is completely free of moments of instability, but with more certainty from the federal level, growers and processors of hemp will be better able to plan for the future and build out the supply chains that will carry hemp-based products and materials across the country.
All that’s needed is for enough regulators to take the entirely non-controversial step of acknowledging that decades of prohibition against hemp were counterproductive and unnecessary.
A promising new industry has sprung up thanks to their decision to legalize hemp in 2018, and now the onus is on them to take the next step and provide practical guidance that fosters further growth of the hemp market while removing the stigma and uncertainty that currently limits its outlook.
GÜDPHORIA is currently preparing thousands of acres in Central Oregon for the cultivation and processing of high quality hemp and hemp-based products. We are proud to be a part of the progress that’s taken place in the hemp industry in the last few years, but encourage lawmakers to take a more proactive role in supporting its future growth.
Stay connected with us online to learn more about the latest developments in commercial hemp cultivation, processing, and regulation.