Former North Carolina Governor Appears In Ad For Son’s Hemp Company

Federal hemp ban 2026: North Carolina’s hemp industry stares down a strange new reality. What used to be a sleepy lane of tinctures and gummies is now a political crossroads, where former Gov. Bev Perdue pops up in an ad for her son’s company and the rulebook could change overnight. The proposed federal hemp ban—capping products to 0.4 milligrams of THC per container—would bulldoze much of today’s hemp shelves, rewriting what “legal hemp products” mean and testing the limits of marijuana policy reform in a state that still won’t touch adult-use cannabis. It’s a collision of Southern pragmatism and national politics, playing out in real time across the North Carolina hemp industry and rippling through the broader cannabis market.

Perdue’s cameo is pure Americana with a wink: a former governor riding shotgun to Cirque du Soleil while her son Garrett, CEO of Morrisville-based Naternal’s parent company, touts $55 “Lift” gummies—about 90 milligrams of THC per container, the kind of dose that would be dead on arrival if the federal cap becomes law. In the ad, he offers her a gummy; she grins and demurs—before breakfast, she says, maybe lunch. It’s relatable, almost disarmingly so, and it reminds you that this debate isn’t about abstraction. It’s about a seltzer that helps you sleep, a cream that soothes your knee, a dropper that takes the edge off. It’s also about a state where age restrictions on CBD are still patchwork and a company whose lineup, save for a couple THC-free items, would get carved up by a federal sledgehammer.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: we built this on the 2018 Farm Bill, a well-meaning door cracked open wide enough to let an entire industry walk through. Then Congress stapled a sweeping hemp restriction to a budget deal that ended a shutdown, set to snap shut in November 2026, and now North Carolina’s market—which flourished precisely because cannabis legalization stayed stalled—is on the hook. Opponents of hemp supplements point to a spike in cannabis-related ER visits, the messy edges of a consumer marketplace that grew faster than regulators. Supporters counter with stories like Perdue’s family—insomnia soothed by hemp extract when nothing else worked—and warn of collateral damage to patients, consumers, and even animals when access is throttled; for more context, consider the warnings detailed in Pets Will ‘Suffer Needlessly’ If Federal Hemp Ban Takes Effect And Limits CBD Access, Veterinarian Says. And if you want the blow-by-blow of how state politics got here, follow the reporting at NC Newsline, which has been tracing the money, the players, and the stakes with a steady hand.

Politics, of course, is the hot skillet no one wants to admit they’re touching. Across the aisle, House Rules chair and former Majority Leader John Bell now presides over Asterra Labs, a hemp company—another sign that in North Carolina, hemp isn’t fringe; it’s mainstream, moneyed, and bipartisan. That crosscurrent could complicate the ban’s implementation. On the Hill, the rebellion is equally odd-bedfellows: Republicans and Democrats who disagree on nearly everything find common purpose in not kneecapping a legitimate industry. See, for instance, Nancy Mace Circulates Bill To Block Hemp THC Ban That Trump Signed Into Law, a signpost that the federal hemp ban isn’t universally beloved among conservatives. And in the Senate’s pragmatic lane, even reform stalwarts are tempering expectations; consider how Cory Booker Will ‘Accept Any Progress’ On Marijuana, Saying There’s A ‘Common Purpose’ For Reform Across Parties, an attitude that might matter when the rubber meets the floor in conference rooms where “progress” often shows up dressed as compromise.

So where does this leave the North Carolina hemp industry? In the gray, where it’s always been most creative. If the 0.4-milligram cap survives, many brands will pivot: no-THC formulations, terpene-forward products, heavy emphasis on minor cannabinoids that don’t trip the wire. But it would also mean layoffs, consolidations, and the sour taste of policy whiplash for consumers who’ve built routines around a gummy at lunch, not unlike the one Perdue joked about. Meanwhile, the broader reform tide keeps rising—statehouses are debating new approaches to psychedelics and public health, as seen in Massachusetts Lawmakers Hold Hearing On Psychedelic Therapy Bills—and the country continues its long, conflicted truce with plant medicine. However the ban shakes out, the smart money stays nimble, the good actors stay transparent, and the rest of us keep asking hard questions—then, when you’re ready to explore compliant options with clear labels and no guesswork, take a look at our shop.