Rhode Island’s US Senators Defend Vote To Ban Hemp Despite Concerns It Will Kill A Growing State Industry

Federal hemp THC ban: Rhode Island’s rude awakening at last call. Congress tucked a grenade into the shutdown fix—language championed by Mitch McConnell that closes the 2018 Farm Bill loophole by effectively outlawing hemp products with more than 0.4 milligrams of THC. President Donald Trump signed it, and the clock now ticks: one year to conform or fold. On a windy plot in Hopkinton, that’s not a policy memo—it’s a gut punch. Mike Simpson, a true believer in hemp’s quiet power, co-founded an outdoor, USDA-certified organic farm where flower can naturally test up to a milligram of THC under Rhode Island’s rules—non-intoxicating in intent, compliant in practice, and suddenly on the wrong side of a federal line drawn with a Sharpie. “This might be the final straw,” he says, staring down hundreds of pounds of perfectly good flower that could become contraband by calendar flip. This is the cannabis industry impact, intimate and immediate: compliance whiplash for small operators who built livelihoods in the legal gray that Washington helped create—and is now eager to bleach.

The politics arrive dressed as morality and math. Thirty-nine attorneys general called the post-Farm Bill boom a “nefarious” misinterpretation of hemp law, pointing to gummies and drinks pitched like candy to kids. Rand Paul tried to strip the rider; the Senate smothered his amendment 76–24. Rhode Island’s Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse voted to table that motion, even as they later opposed the broader budget, a parliamentary two-step that kept the ban intact while the lights stayed on. Meanwhile, Rhode Island’s newly minted Cannabis Office has been sketching the guardrails—dosage limits, packaging, labeling, retailer licensing—after the state greenlit low-dose hemp-derived delta-9 drinks in vape shops and liquor stores last August. Regulators say they’re monitoring the feds, but out on the sidewalks the vibe is simpler: the market is hot, the rules are tepid, and lab folks warn that chemistry can turn docile hemp into something punchier with a nudge of solvent or acid. One lab director puts it bluntly: if the label’s a fairy tale, you shouldn’t trust what’s in the can.

Then there’s the street-level logistics that make or break a scene: credit cards, bank accounts, shipping lanes. If DEA drags its feet on rescheduling, the new federal hemp THC ban collides with Schedule I like two trucks on black ice. Rhode Island liquor stores selling compliant drinks today could need separate banking tomorrow. The executive director of the state’s liquor operators warns of a hard reset—friction, fees, and a whole lot of awkward conversations with processors who fear federal heat. Zoom out and you see the same pressure crackle across the map: even within the GOP, there’s a widening rift over whether Washington should slam the door on these products, a fight spotlighted in Texas GOP Lawmakers Are Divided On Federal Move To Recriminalize Hemp THC Products. For consumers, the upshot is confusion; for operators, it’s compliance roulette; for state coffers, it’s revenue threatened by a rule written to wipe away nuance.

Patchwork is the house style of American cannabis. In New York, regulated storefronts keep multiplying and the receipts tell the story—see New York Officials Celebrate 500th Marijuana Dispensary Opening, With $2.3 Billion In Sales Since Market Launch—while Massachusetts leans into reform and oversight with Massachusetts Senators Approve Bill To Double Marijuana Possession Limit For Adults And Restructure Regulatory Commission. Down south, the medical lane widens a notch at a time, with Georgia Medical Marijuana Regulators Approve New Dispensary License As More Patients Register For Program. Rhode Island sits in the middle of that mess—legal sales inside pot shops, hemp drinks in liquor aisles, and a small but earnest farm culture betting on wellness products that don’t bowl you over. The federal rule doesn’t just police potency; it redraws who gets to participate. Liquor stores could lose a fast-growing category, cannabis retailers might cheer the competition’s exit, and consumers will find fewer options and more lines. Legal cannabis revenue rises or falls on whether the rules channel demand into regulated doors—or push it back to the trunk of someone’s car.

Back on the farm, the fix isn’t as simple as swapping seeds. Organic certification limits where Simpson can shop, and genetics don’t always read the memo. There’s a one-year runway to retool, but small operators don’t have spare parts lying around. The pragmatic path forward isn’t prohibition cosplay; it’s standards that actually mean something: potency per serving that’s enforced, child-resistant packaging that works, age gates that bite, lab reports tied to scannable codes, and a payments framework that doesn’t treat every can like contraband. That’s marijuana policy reform with teeth, not theater. Because if Washington’s new line turns compliant flower into waste and drives hemp-infused beverages off shelves overnight, Rhode Island won’t just lose a skirmish in the culture war—it will bleed local jobs, innovation, and the kind of careful, incremental regulation that keeps consumers safe. For readers who want to navigate today’s compliant landscape and see what’s possible within the rules, explore our curated selection here: https://thcaorder.com/shop/.