New Bipartisan Congressional Bill Would Regulate Hemp Products, In Contrast To Ban Trump Signed

The HEMP Act to regulate consumable hemp products reads like a late-night special scribbled on a greasy whiteboard: simple promise, complex ingredients, and a room full of people arguing over the check. After months of limbo and an abrupt federal hemp THC ban folded into a year-end spending law, a bipartisan duo—House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Morgan Griffith and Rep. Marc Veasey—dropped a bill that would keep the market open to adults 21 and over while imposing real guardrails on edibles, beverages, and inhalables. If you’ve been watching the cannabis industry impact unfold in fits and starts, you know this fight isn’t about vibes. It’s about federal clarity versus chaos, commerce versus panic, and whether Washington can thread the needle between consumer safety and a thriving legal hemp economy. The HEMP Act attempts the rarest thing in cannabis policy reform: a middle lane with the headlights on.

Here’s the spine of their consumable hemp products regulation: packaging can’t play to kids and must be tamper-evident; labels list every cannabinoid; QR codes link to certificates of analysis that actually mean something. Manufacturers register facilities, abide by testing and manufacturing standards, and keep intoxicating add-ons out—no alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, melatonin, or other substances that could crank the ride. FDA gets recall authority. HHS must propose cannabinoid caps within 60 days; if the feds drag their feet for three years, default limits kick in. That last part will make or break shelf space—and margins—for a lot of operators. The updated draft raised some ceilings for intoxicating products, but the per-package limits still have people gritting their teeth.

• Oral, non-intoxicating products: up to 10 mg/serving; 50 mg/package.
• Inhalables: up to 100 mg/serving; 500 mg/package.
• Topicals: up to 100 mg/serving; 500 mg/package.
• Intoxicating cannabinoids (THC, etc.): up to 5 mg/serving; 30 mg/package.

The bill would carve a fresh chapter into the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act for cannabinoid hemp products and stand up a federal advisory committee to keep the science and policy in dialogue rather than divorce court. HHS would publish a roster of known cannabinoids within a year—putting daylight between naturally occurring compounds and the lab-cooked strangers that have been haunting gas station counters. The sponsors are pitching this as a grown-up framework: regulate CBD and hemp-derived cannabinoids with the same seriousness we demand from food safety, but without flattening the industry. Griffith’s office says as much in his statement on the proposal, and the official bill text is there for anyone who wants to read it line by line on Congress.gov and in his press release. The broader backdrop matters too: a presidential directive to move marijuana to Schedule III and nudge Congress toward a saner hemp definition has already reframed the stakes, a shift echoing in statehouses from west to the White Mountains, where New Hampshire Senators Debate Bill To Legalize Marijuana, With Sponsor Saying Trump’s Rescheduling Move Means State Must Act.

Why the urgency? Because the new federal hemp THC ban swung with a wide blade. Within a year, the old 0.3 percent delta-9 THC-by-weight line will give way to a total-THC calculation that ropes in delta-8 and other isomers, plus any cannabinoids with similar effects. It also targets “intermediate” hemp-derived products marketed straight to consumers and bars compounds synthesized outside the plant’s natural playbook. Then comes the kicker: a near-zero cap—0.4 milligrams per container—on total THC or THC-like cannabinoids. That’s not regulation; that’s erasure. Farmers and retailers say they’re walking a tightrope over an empty pool. Veterans groups warn a blanket prohibition could slam the door on research. Governors argue the industry belongs under state regulation, not a federal sledgehammer. Meanwhile, the map keeps shifting: Massachusetts is fending off a policy zag, as seen in Massachusetts Officials Reject Challenge To Marijuana Legalization Rollback Initiative Amid Allegations Of Deceptive Petitioning Tactics, South Dakota is tightening its medical rules at the margins with votes like South Dakota Lawmakers Reject Bill To Let Terminally Ill Patients Use Medical Marijuana In Hospitals, and the legalization locomotive keeps rolling in places like the Commonwealth, where Virginia Senators Approve Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales Under New Pro-Reform Governor.

So what does the HEMP Act actually promise for the Michigan-and-beyond cannabis market types who count SKUs, not slogans? Predictable age-gating. Honest labels with verifiable COAs. Recall authority when bad actors cut corners. Manufacturing standards that separate a craft industry from a chemistry experiment. And cannabinoid caps that might finally draw a realistic line between a Friday-night buzz and a Tuesday-morning wellness routine. It still leaves hard questions on the table—how strict those caps should be, how to treat novel compounds, how to guard against youth appeal without sterilizing every package into oblivion. But it’s a start. If you make or buy legal hemp products, the choice looks stark: a workable federal scaffold, or a ban that smothers innovation and sends dollars scurrying to the shadows. Keep your ear to the ground, read the fine print, and if you’re ready to explore compliant options while the policy dust settles, step into our shop at https://thcaorder.com/shop/.