Legislation that delays the implementation of a hemp-derived THC federal ban is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk, but a local advocacy group is speaking out against the move.
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In 2025, federal lawmakers passed legislation banning hemp-derived THC products like Delta-9, which included plans to implement the ban in November of this year. But on Monday, the U.S. House passed a Senate stopgap funding measure that delays implementation by several weeks.
“They have language redefining hemp and they are closing the intoxicating hemp loophole. A lot of people say, ‘oh, they're banning hemp and CBD’. That's not true. They are capping it at a level so that it can't be intoxicating and putting some safeguards in place,” Diane Carlson, founder and president of One Chance to Grow Up.
Carlson said her organization has observed hemp-derived THC products with packaging that mimics candy and snack foods, items that Carlson said appeal to kids.
“What we're trying to do is expand our education on the whole gas station drugs, deceptively dangerous gas station drugs, so that parents know what's out there, they can talk to their kids, they can go into retailers, they can say, you know, 'we don't want this stuff sold here',” Carlson said.
Carlson said the 2025 law helped close loopholes that allowed for intoxicating hemp sales at gas stations and other retail stores, but the delay gives the industry time to work around the loopholes.
“They've already had a year, and it's just part of one of the tactics to just to keep delaying because then they can keep doing whatever they want and skirting the rules. And meanwhile, you have all these states that are moving in the direction of the federal language,” Carlson said.
A bipartisan group of 35 attorneys general agrees, according to The Hill the attorneys general said the month long delay gives the hemp industry more time to reopen the loophole.
But leaders in other states think the delay was necessary.
On August 8th, when the Senate passed the bill approving the delay, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said in a statement: “The Senate has passed a bipartisan bill with a key provision based on my legislation to delay the ill-conceived federal hemp ban, which I opposed last year. This delay provides more time to find a long-term solution, like the sensible safety rules we have in Minnesota, rather than allowing a federal ban to wipe out a thriving industry. I will keep working to make sure Minnesota continues to have a safe and strong hemp industry.”
If President Trump signs the legislation, the hemp THC ban will not take effect until December 11th.
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