By Alcohol Lobbyists Encouraged Law Enforcement Officials To Push For Federal Hemp Crackdown, Report Says
Politico reported Thursday that it obtained a “collection of emails” in which lobbyists for major alcohol companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors and Diageo urged state attorneys general to sign a letter asking Congress not to reverse course on the scheduled hemp product ban. “There are a couple fringe U.S. Senators who would like to extend the loophole by another year in the CR being debated this weekend on Capitol Hill,” Todd Kranda, a partner at the firm Kelsch, Ruff, Kranda, Nagle and Ludwig, wrote in a July email to North Dakota’s attorney general, according to the outlet.
In August, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley (R) joined a bipartisan coalition of 34 other state and territory attorneys general in sending a letter asking federal lawmakers to reject “any effort to delay, repeal, suspend, or weaken” the hemp ban. Under a funding bill Trump signed last month, the effective date of the ban for most products is being pushed back to December 11, though a carve-out allows recriminalization on November 12 of synthetic cannabinoids “that are not capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant.”
DEA Warns Medical Marijuana Businesses To Only Obtain Products From Federally Registered Companies
The DEA issued new guidance warning that medical marijuana businesses seeking federal registration under the Trump administration’s rescheduling reform have until late November to begin sourcing cannabis only from companies that have also been granted or applied for registration. “If a Timely Applicant or DEA registrant engages in schedule III medical marijuana activities with someone other than a Timely Applicant or DEA registrant, such conduct could be potential grounds for denial of a Timely Applicant’s application or revocation of a certificate of registration, respectively,” the four-page document says.
The guidance was published Friday alongside a Department of Justice announcement that DEA has issued federal registrations to more than 900 medical marijuana dispensaries. DEA said it “does not intend to penalize registrants and Timely Applicants for sending de minimis quantities of schedule III medical marijuana” to non-registered laboratories, provided the lab is in the same state and detailed records are retained.
Republican Rep. Wants to Put Hemp Product Regulations In Tax Reconciliation Bill
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said Monday he is considering putting federal regulations for hemp-derived products into tax legislation during the post-election session, Roll Call reports. “I think we need to get my THC regulatory bill passed, and if we could get that into a reconciliation bill before the 11th of December, that’d be fabulous,” Griffith told reporters.
