Coalition Of Attorneys General Urge Congress To Tighten Definition Of Hemp Under Federal Law

In what has become a pivotal moment for the still nascent yet booming national market for intoxicating hemp edible products and beverages, a coalition of Attorneys General ("AG") have called on the Congress to close the exception in the 2018 Farm Bill that enabled the proliferation of these consumer products in the past several years.

Although the prolonged government shutdown has stalled the FY26 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill ("Ag. Appropriations Bill"), it has not stopped state government officials from joining the chorus of regulators calling for federal action on intoxicating hemp products, despite the fact that dozens of states have passed laws and regulations governing such products in recent years. Joining that chorus last week was a bipartisan coalition of 39 state and territory Attorneys General, which delivered a letter to the Appropriations and Agriculture Committee chairs in both the Senate and House (Senators Collins and Boozman and Representatives Cole and Thompson) requesting to clarify the definition of hemp under federal law and, effectively, shut down the now multi-billion dollar, national intoxicating hemp product market.

In June 2025, we reported on House appropriations bill language ("Section 759") that proposed to significantly narrow the statutory definition of hemp in a manner familiar to those who followed the 2024–2025 Farm Bill debates. The House and Senate have since split over hemp language in their respective versions of the Ag. Appropriations Bill, which are now being conferenced.

The letter, submitted under the flag of the National Association of Attorneys General ("NAAG"), urges Congress to clarify that intoxicating hemp THC products—"of any kind and no matter how [they are] derived"—are unlawful, and asks that this clarification be enacted either in the Ag. Appropriations Bill or in a future reauthorization of the Farm Bill. The AGs frame their request as restoring the 2018 Farm Bill's intent by closing loopholes that have allowed consumable intoxicating hemp products to be manufactured and distributed across the country.

Substantively, the letter argues that manufacturers are converting hemp derived CBD into potent THC isomers and analogs—such as delta 8 and delta 10 THC, HHC, and THC O—and marketing these products in youth appealing formats without consistent age gating, labeling, or safety standards. Citing reported increases in poison control exposures and uneven state responses, the AGs contend that a patchwork of state rules cannot address mail order, interstate commerce in these products. They therefore urge federal action to make clear that intoxicating THC products are unlawful regardless of derivation and to clarify the scope of the Farm Bill with respect to non-intoxicating industrial hemp and related products.

Notably, the letter gives short shrift to the robust state regulatory frameworks that have been implemented in recent years governing intoxicating hemp products, including frameworks within the home states of many of the AGs who signed on to the letter. Indeed, hemp industry stakeholders might point out that dozens of states already regulate a thriving hemp derived products market and have imposed age restrictions and clear rules for product testing, packaging and labeling, and potency limits. Many states have also explicitly banned hemp products that contain synthetically-derived cannabinoids including THC.

We will continue to monitor the fallout from this letter and any future movement on the Ag. Appropriations Bill once the government reopens (whenever that may be).

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