New GOP-Led Bill In Congress Would Reverse Hemp THC Ban That Trump Signed Into Law

American Hemp Protection Act of 2025 targets the federal hemp THC ban—now the fuse is lit. Picture a bar light flickering at closing time: you can see the bottles, but the bartender’s already pocketed the keys. That’s where the hemp market sits after a surprise federal hemp THC product ban hitched a ride on a must-pass spending bill and got signed last week. Now a Republican-led rescue attempt from Rep. Nancy Mace, backed by a bipartisan trio, aims to snip the wire before the bomb goes off next year. The stakes aren’t academic. We’re talking real farmers, real small businesses, and a supply chain that fuels the CBD market for millions. Cannabinoid commerce. Cannabis policy reform. The cannabis industry impact is not a think-tank white paper—it’s payroll, rent, and whether legal hemp revenue survives Washington’s latest mood swing.

Here’s the anatomy of the fix: Mace’s American Hemp Protection Act of 2025 would strip out the offending section—call it Section 781, the part that moves the goalposts and effectively shuts down ingestible hemp with any “quantifiable” THC. The bill, filed as H.R. 6209, counts Republicans Thomas Massie and James Baird alongside Democrat Zoe Lofgren as cosponsors. If it passes, the federal hemp THC ban slated to kick in about a year from now loses its teeth. What it doesn’t do—at least not yet—is build the regulatory guardrails this market sorely needs. Since the 2018 Farm Bill cracked the door open, intoxicating cannabinoids like delta-8 hit the shelves while federal regulators stared at their shoes. Stakeholders have drafted a sensible playbook: 21+ sales, clear labels, child-resistant packaging, verified lab tests. Mace herself logged those points in the Congressional Record (see her remarks), but the new bill is more tourniquet than surgery.

Let’s be blunt about the fallout if the ban sticks. By redefining legality around “any quantifiable THC,” the rule doesn’t just swipe at sketchy delta-8 carts; it smacks 90 to 95 percent of the hemp catalog—including the non-intoxicating CBD that grandma uses for her knees. Trade associations warn of billions in lost sales. Growers and processors say they’ll be collateral damage. And one line from Capitol Hill keeps echoing: roughly one in five American adults used a hemp-derived product in the last year. You don’t erase demand; you just shove it into the shadows where the labels lie and the lab tests don’t exist. We’ve seen the prequel. States move to fill the vacuum—sometimes with scalpels, sometimes with sledgehammers. Ohio, for one, is already tightening screws and harmonizing with the new federal line, as detailed in Ohio Lawmakers Pass Bill To Scale Back Marijuana Law And Restrict Hemp THC In Line With New Federal Ban Trump Enacted. And in a twist of federalism, another red-state heavyweight wants the opposite—see the pushback chronicled in Texas Agriculture Commissioner Calls For Repeal Of Federal Hemp Ban Trump Signed Into Law.

Zoom out and the map looks like a patchwork quilt stitched in a moving car. Conservatives who typically champion state autonomy are now split between prohibitionist reflexes and libertarian instincts. Legal cannabis remains fenced in by federal prohibition, even as the culture wrote its own ending years ago. There are rumblings at the high court’s doorstep—pressure captured in Top Conservative Group Urges Supreme Court To Take Marijuana Case Challenging Federal Prohibition. Meanwhile, social equity—the promise that legalization would repair some of what the drug war broke—keeps tripping over its shoelaces, as seen in Most Rhode Island Marijuana Social Equity License Applicants Have Been Disqualified. Mace has previously pitched sweeping federal reform and championed practical fixes like banking access and clean security clearance rules. But with internal party memos still casting cannabis as a boogeyman, every step forward is a dance with elbows up.

So here’s the read on the next twelve months. Expect a firefight over what “responsible hemp regulation” looks like, with bipartisan drafts bubbling that marry age limits, label standards, and real testing to a market that’s not going back in the box. Expect more states to draw their own lines, some pragmatic, some puritan. And expect Congress to decide whether it wants to govern a legal hemp economy—or leave it to sheriffs, plaintiffs’ lawyers, and the underground. If you’re watching the hemp and CBD market for survival cues, keep an eye on H.R. 6209, watch for a companion regulatory package, and remember: clarity beats panic every time. In the meantime, if you prefer to explore high-grade THCA while policymakers argue over commas and cannabinoids, our shelves are open—step into the calm and visit our shop.