The hemp industry was rocked this week when the federal government approved a bill that would effectively ban intoxicating hemp-derived products. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell , once hailed as a “hero” for championing hemp in his home state of Kentucky, tucked a provision into the spending package to end the government shutdown that would make Delta-8, CBD, and other cannabinoids extracted from hemp illegal under federal law as of November 2026.

The market for intoxicating products derived from hemp is relatively new. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp by defining it as cannabis containing less than .03 percent THC by dry weight; a section of the bill removed hemp from its Schedule I status under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Botanically, it’s all the same plant,

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