The Legal Limit of THC In Hemp Could Increase To 1%

A new bill was introduced on Capitol Hill that would relieve hemp growers of some strict restrictions and regulations by breaking down a few core issues brought to light four years after the 2018 Farm Bill. 

On February 8, Rep. Chellie Pingree (ME-01) introduced the Hemp Advancement Act of 2022, which, according to a new press release, was designed to improve the 2018 Farm Bill’s hemp provisions and “provide greater clarity and flexibility to hemp growers and processors.”

Pingree has gone on the record in public statements about how the Farm Bill helped hemp farmers finally grow the plant after years of waiting, but it came with “overly complicated regulations and hardship for farmers and small businesses in the process.”

For these reasons, Pingree developed the Hemp Advancement Act of 2022, which would do the following, according to the press release;

• Eliminate unworkable testing requirements
• Set reasonable thresholds for producers and processors to grow hemp with 1% THC while keeping the public safe without intoxicating effects
• End the discriminatory policy that bans people with drug convictions from growing legal hemp
• Remove the requirement that hemp testing occurs in DEA-registered laboratories, which is a distinct challenge for Maine which doesn’t have these facilities.

Pingree’s newly introduced bill takes a “commonsense, straightforward approach” to correct the issues brought to the surface by the 2018 Farm Bill, she says. She hopes the legislation will make the hemp industry more “profitable and more equitable” while offering a crystal clear path towards a thriving hemp economy.

In similar news, the National Hemp Association (NHA) is already on board with Pingree’s new bill. NHA Chairman Geoff Whaling wrote Hemp Grower via email and said the new bill “looks good.” The association is said to appreciate how the bill increases the THC limit to 1% and offers “protection for ‘in-process and in-transportation’ materials,” reports Hemp Grower.

Additionally, Whaling wrote that Pingree’s initiatives to remove the “controversial drug felon ban” that bans those with drug-related felonies from growing hemp is a “key component of the NHA’s Social Justice Standing Committee mission.” Finally, raising the legal THC limit in hemp to 1% means hemp farmers can “avoid having to destroy what would today be considered a hot crop,” Whaling wrote to Hemp Grower.