FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Congress wants to close a loophole that allowed many of the intoxicating hemp products to go unregulated for several years now, but Senator Rand Paul worries they're going too far.
"It will eradicate the hemp industry," Paul said. "There will be no more hemp industry. It'll completely eradicate it - all the CBD oil, all the hemp gummies, it'll be gone."
Paul said the issue is that some of these products have become "juiced up" to intoxicating levels of THC, and they're legally being sold with no real regulations. While marijuana remains illegal in many states, some of the intoxicating hemp products are easily accessible in wellness stores, online, and even at gas stations.
The lawmaker agrees that Congress should put limitations in place, but he wants to strike a compromise to allow these products to have small amounts of THC in them.
Paul says those small amounts are what make the products effective and wanted. Completing banning THC in them would destroy Kentucky's hemp industry, he said.
"They want a product where, if you were to buy the product, there would be no THC in it - no measurable THC," Paul said. "I don't think anybody would buy those products because frankly, the THC - even a little bit of it - it's probably what helps make people more calm, sleep better, or less anxiety."
Those in Congress pushing for this ban says it's stop bad actors from taking advantage of a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill to sell psychoactive products.
