Senate Committee Voices Concern About ‘Misleading’ Cannabis Marketing And Promotes Psychedelics Research After Passing Hemp Ban
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A new report from a key Senate committee expresses concerns about “misleading” marketing of cannabis products and notes the need for revised hemp rules, while also supporting continued research into the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic medicines.
The report released on Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee is attached to an annual spending bill containing provisions to federally ban hemp products containing any “quantifiable” amount of THC. However, bipartisan senators did agree to amend that language to delay implementation for a year—unlike a separate House version that advanced in that chamber last month.
While marijuana and psychedelics policy issues weren’t explicitly addressed in the Senate legislation itself, the panel’s report does contain sections that deal with those substances.
For example, it states that the committee is “concerned about the proliferation of products marketed in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), including products containing derivatives of the cannabis plant.”
“The Committee is aware that non-FFDCA compliant products pose potential health and safety risks to consumers through misleading, unsubstantiated, and false claims that cannabis and cannabis derivatives can treat serious and life-threatening diseases and conditions, including COVID–19 and cancer,” it says.
With respect to psychedelics policy, the committee noted “the increased interest and need to study psychedelics, including MDMA, psilocybin, ibogaine, and 5–MeO–DMT, and their potential therapeutic effects.”
“The Committee encourages the FDA to work with the [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health] on leveraging clinical trials to improve our understanding of psychedelics .The Committee also encourages the FDA and VA, DoD, and NIH to work together in developing and supporting public-private collaborations to advance psychedelic research for therapeutic purposes, with the FDA maintaining its independent regulatory authority as an observer. The Committee requests a report on such efforts within 180 days of enactment of this act.”
On hemp—a contentious topic in Congress in recent months—the report also said that members recognize “the growing consumer demand for American-made hemp products following the expanded legalization of hemp under the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.”
“As the industry continues to innovate and expand to meet consumer demand, the Committee acknowledges the need for clear, science-based guidance to ensure product safety, consumer confidence, and regulatory clarity,” it says. “To support this effort, the Committee directs the FDA to solicit information from and engage with industry stakeholders, including small businesses, scientists, manufacturers, public health experts, academic researchers, and other relevant parties in the hemp community on suggested limits on the amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol or other cannabinoids in hemp-derived cannabinoid products for the purposes of promulgating regulations pursuant to authorities.”
“The Committee also encourages the FDA to seek out information from States on actions taken to address consumer safety concerns like cannabinoid limits and age restrictions,” the report states. “The FDA shall brief the Committee within 60 days of enactment of this act on planned engagement and requests for information.”
Another section discusses the committee’s desire to have the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “improve data sharing and coordination between State and Federal authorities, such as by continuing to support the FDA’s Cannabinoid Hemp Product 20.88 Information Sharing Agreement initiative.”
Other hemp provisions of the report include one on hemp cultivar development that urges the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to “conduct biotechnology and genomics research in collaboration with capable institutions to elucidate the genetic control of key production and product quality traits in hemp to facilitate cultivar development.”
“In addition, the Committee provides no less than the fiscal year 2024 level for [the Agricultural Research Service] to partner with institutions already engaged in such research to conduct hemp genetic improvement research and breeding with new breeding and editing techniques,” it says.
The committee also addressed hemp germplam, stating that members recognize “the increasing demand for hemp for a variety of uses and its growing importance as a crop for U.S. farmers.”
“When the Nation’s hemp germplasm was destroyed in the 1980s, researchers lost access to publicly available germplasm for plant breeding purposes,” it said. “The Committee directs ARS to establish and maintain a hemp germplasm repository at the Plant Genetics Resources Research Unit and provides no less than the fiscal year 2024 level for this purpose.”
Yet another hemp-specific section also acknowledges the “emerging market potential for U.S. hemp and hemp-based products for a variety of uses.”
“The Committee directs ARS to conduct regionally-driven research, development, and stakeholder engagement to improve agronomic and agro-economic understanding of effectively integrating hemp into existing agricultural cropping, processing, and marketing systems. The Committee provides no less than the fiscal year 2024 level for this purpose. Research, engagement, and technology transfer shall be conducted in strict accordance with all applicable Federal and State authorities and regulations.”
Meanwhile, ahead of the Senate Appropriations Committee vote, several sources told Marijuana Moment that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who championed hemp legalization through that 2018 legislation while serving as majority leader, was behind the restrictive cannabis language, vying to redefine his legacy by recriminalizing intoxicating cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said at Thursday’s hearing that he appreciates McConnell’s concerns but worries that the new prohibition would be overbroad and impact even non-intoxicating products, saying the language “addresses one very important issue, but causes another problem.”
While the House’s amended report language attached to its version of the bill that clarifies it’s not the intent of the committee to stop people from accessing “industrial or nonintoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products with trace or insignificant amounts of THC,” the bill itself still says that products containing any “quantifiable” amounts of THC couldn’t be marketed. And it’s rare to find CBD items without any natural traces of THC.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), for his part, recently filed a bill that would go in the opposite direction of Harris’s ban, proposing to triple the concentration of THC that the crop could legally contain, while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about federal regulations.
The senator introduced the legislation, titled the Hemp Economic Mobilization Plan (HEMP) Act, last month. It mirrors versions he’s sponsored over the last several sessions.
Hemp and its derivatives were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, but the industry has experienced multiple setbacks in the years since—and the proliferation of intoxicating cannabinoid products has led to pushes in Congress and state legislatures across the country to reign in the largely unregulated market.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), for his part, told Marijuana Moment recently that he’s not concerned about any potential opposition in the Senate—and he also disputed reports about the scope of what his legislation would do to the industry.
He also briefly weighed in on the Texas governor’s recent veto of a bill to recriminalize hemp products with any THC—simply stating that he’s “not paying attention to what a single state is doing” while he focuses on enacting the proposed federal ban.
The language in the congressional bill, meanwhile, would still effectively eliminate the most commonly marketed hemp products within the industry, as even non-intoxicating CBD items that are sold across the country typically contain trace amounts of THC. Under current law, those products are allowed if they contain no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight.
The proposed policy championed by Harris would drastically change that. It would instead maintain the legal status of “industrial hemp” under a revised definition that allows for the cultivation and sale of hemp grown for fiber, whole grain, oil, cake, nut, hull, microgreens or “other edible hemp leaf products intended for human consumption.”
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report last month stating that the legislation would “effectively” prohibit hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Initially it said that such a ban would prevent the sale of CBD as well, but the CRS report was updated to exclude that language for reasons that are unclear.
The hemp language is largely consistent with appropriations and agriculture legislation that was introduced, but not ultimately enacted, under the last Congress.
Hemp industry stakeholders rallied against that proposal, an earlier version of which was also included in the base bill from the subcommittee last year. It’s virtually identical to a provision of the 2024 Farm Bill that was attached by a separate committee last May via an amendment from Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), which was also not enacted into law.
There are some differences between the prior spending bill and this latest version for 2026, including a redefining of what constitutes a “quantifiable” amount of THC that’d be prohibited for hemp products.
It now says that a quantifiable amount is “based on substance, form, manufacture, or article (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture),” whereas it was previously defined as an amount simply “determined by the Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
The proposed legislation also now specifies that the term hemp does not include “a drug that is the subject of an application approved under subsection (c) or (j) of section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355),” which seems to carve out an exception for FDA-approved drugs such Epidiolex, which is synthesized from CBD.
A leading alcohol industry association, meanwhile, has called on Congress to dial back language in the House spending bill that would ban most consumable hemp products, instead proposing to maintain the legalization of naturally derived cannabinoids from the crop and only prohibit synthetic items.
Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) President and CEO Francis Creighton said in a press release that “proponents and opponents alike have agreed that this language amounts to a ban.”
“By pushing a rapidly evolving industry back into the shadows, Congress is creating even more chaos in the marketplace, undermining state initiatives and punishing responsible actors,” he said. “We urge the full House to reconsider this approach. States can regulate intoxicating products safely and effectively through systems that preserve consumer trust and public safety. It’s time for Congress to follow their lead, not override their authority.”
Members of WSWA also met with lawmakers and staffers in April to advocate for three key policy priorities that the group says is based on “sound principles of alcohol distribution.” They include banning synthetic THC, setting up a federal system for testing and labeling products and establishing state-level power to regulate retail sales.
Separately, key GOP congressional lawmakers—including one member who supports marijuana legalization—don’t seem especially concerned about provisions in the bill despite concern from stakeholders that it would put much of the hemp industry in jeopardy by banning most consumable products derived from the plant.
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Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told congressional lawmakers in April that the market is “begging” for federal regulations around cannabis products.
At the hearing, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) also inquired about FDA inaction around regulations, sarcastically asking if it’d require “a gazillion bureaucrats that work from home” to regulate cannabinoids such as CBD.
A report from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) last year called cannabis a “significant threat” to the alcohol industry, citing survey data that suggests more people are using cannabis as a substitute for alcoholic beverages such a beer and wine.
Last November, meanwhile, a beer industry trade group put out a statement of guiding principles to address what it called “the proliferation of largely unregulated intoxicating hemp and cannabis products,” warning of risks to consumers and communities resulting from THC consumption.
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