Congress Moves to Cut 95% of the Hemp Market. Advocates Say: Regulate Cannabis as One Plant.

As Congress prepares to vote on a federal spending bill that includes sweeping changes to the legal status of hemp-derived THC, an entire industry holds its breath. On paper it looks like a budget measure. What it represents, however, is the unraveling of one of the few bipartisan success stories in modern agriculture — and potentially a turning point for the future of American cannabis.

Michelle Rutter Friberg, Director of Government Relations for the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), didn’t mince words. “Congress’s approval of a federal spending package that includes a ban on intoxicating hemp-derived THC products underscores the fractured and unsustainable approach to cannabis undertaken by the federal government,” she said. “Hemp remains under-regulated, marijuana remains over-regulated, and businesses across both sectors are left navigating contradictory and confusing rules that ultimately undermine public health, consumer confidence, and economic opportunity.”

Her point lands with painful clarity. Six years after the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the “2018 Farm Bill”) legalized hemp, the plant that was meant to unite farmers, entrepreneurs, and innovators has become a flashpoint of confusion and regulation. On one side: a growing wave of hemp-derived products — Δ-8, THC beverages, full-spectrum CBDs — fueling an estimated $28 billion market and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. (MJBizDaily) On the other side: a federal framework that now treats “hemp” and “marijuana” not as separate species by biology, but as arbitrarily divided by shifting legal thresholds and synthetic cannabinoid loopholes. (The Church Law Firm)

The One-Plant Reality

For Friberg and the NCIA, this week’s legislative move isn’t just bad policy — it’s proof that piecemeal regulation has failed. What’s needed, they argue, is a complete reset: cannabis regulated as one plant, not split by arbitrary THC thresholds. Such a shift would imply rescheduling or descheduling cannabis altogether and creating one coherent national standard. It would also, they note, protect public health more effectively by ensuring real oversight and consumer safety across all products, seed to sale.

That call echoes across the industry. Kim Sanchez Rael, CEO and co-founder of Azuca, sees the Senate’s vote as “a critical moment” — one that threatens not just business but progress itself. “Much of the innovation and normalization that has been built over the past several years is now vulnerable,” she said. “This moment reminds us what we’re fighting for: a smarter, sustainable regulatory framework that prioritizes access and safety. We believe the path forward lies in regulation, not prohibition — one that reflects the ‘one plant’ reality and honors hemp and cannabis as part of the same evolving industry.”

Her words reflect a larger truth: the hemp sector, once celebrated as a symbol of rural revival and modern innovation, is now facing existential whiplash.

A Ban on Progress

Few describe that whiplash more vividly than Thomas Winstanley, EVP & GM of Edibles.com™ (part of Edible Arrangements). “Senator Mitch McConnell — architect of the 2018 Farm Bill — sowed the hemp seeds, and now seeks to scorch the soil, salting the fields of his own harvest,” he said. It’s a line that cuts deep, especially in states like Kentucky, where hemp-derived products generated over $300 million and sustained thousands of jobs. (The Guardian)

The new language in Congress’s spending bill threatens to wipe much of that out overnight. It redefines legal hemp to include total THC (not just Δ-9) and bans synthetically modified cannabinoids — tightening the definition of hemp under federal law to “Cannabis sativa … and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids … with a total tetrahydrocannols concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) of not more than 0.3 % on a dry-weight basis,” and excluding cannabinoids “synthesized or manufactured outside the plant.” (MJBizDaily) It also imposes a container-limit of 0.4 milligrams of total THC per serving/pack for hemp-derived consumer goods, a threshold which critics say effectively outlaws the vast majority of current full-spectrum CBD/THC products. (WIRED)

The bill also strips or omits provisions that would have allowed greater flexibility for veterans and other users of hemp-derived cannabinoids — drawing sharp criticism from veteran advocacy groups and hemp business coalitions. (While the original version of your text referred to “VA doctors recommending medical cannabis,” the publicly reported legislative language focuses more narrowly on hemp/THC re-definitions rather than altering the Department of Veterans Affairs medical-marijuana recommendation authority. You might choose to adjust or remove that sentence based on your source’s specificity.)

“This isn’t regulation,” Winstanley said. “It’s reversal.”

Between Reform and Regression

Not everyone sees the bill as a step backward. Anthony Coniglio, CEO of NewLake Capital Partners, applauded Congress for addressing what he calls “the loophole created by the 2018 Farm Bill.” Coniglio emphasized that closing the gap on intoxicating hemp-derived products could restore consumer safety and create “a fair, regulated environment for legitimate cannabis operators who comply with rigorous state oversight.”

Yet even among those who agree safety is essential, there’s a growing concern that prohibition, rather than regulation, will only drive the market underground. “Banning legitimate hemp products won’t stop bad actors,” Winstanley countered. “It will only erode consumer safety.”

The irony isn’t lost on anyone who remembers the origins of the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp was supposed to be the stabilizer — the bridge crop connecting history and innovation. From colonial rope to wartime fabric to modern wellness and design, hemp has always been a material of promise. The current bill, critics argue, risks turning that promise into prohibition all over again.

What Comes Next

Whether the spending bill passes or not, the message from across the cannabis community is clear: the status quo is untenable. The patchwork of state laws, federal contradictions, and unregulated loopholes has reached a breaking point. As Friberg said, “Only by treating cannabis as one plant can we repair the fragmented landscape that has disadvantaged the entire industry and the American public.”

For brands, cultivators and creatives alike, this is about more than THC limits — it’s about coherence. It’s about whether innovation, entrepreneurship and artistry can thrive in a space constantly rewritten by political contradiction.

In the end, the “one-plant” philosophy isn’t just policy; it’s metaphor. It’s the recognition that the cannabis ecosystem — hemp and marijuana, farmers and formulators, patients and artists — grows from the same root. Whether Congress can finally see that may determine the health of the industry for decades to come.

Timeline Summary

Here are key dates and milestones to contextualise the legislation: