MJBiz - August 2023 - 10

FIVE QUESTIONS with Jonathan Miller
What's at Stake in the Farm Bill?
General counsel shares U.S. Hemp Roundtable's goals for 2023 legislation
By Kate Lavin
T
he U.S. Farm Bill that
legalized commercial hemp
production in 2018 is set to
expire at the end of September.
As members of Congress craft
replacement legislation, they will
assess the needs of domestic
agriculture-including hemp
farmers and producers.
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable and
30 other cannabis organizations
submitted a list of nine priorities for
the House and Senate committees
involved in creating the Farm Bill
to consider as they solidify new
legislation.
Those priorities include:
* Bolstering the U.S. Department
of Agriculture hemp program
through funding and dedicated
staff.
* Requiring the Food and Drug
Administration to regulate
hemp extracts such as CBD.
* Designating hemp as a specialty
crop.
* Repealing a ban that keeps
felons from participating in
hemp production.
* Promoting hemp research at
historically Black colleges and
universities (HBCUs), tribal
colleges and Hispanic-serving
institutions.
* Removing Drug Enforcement
Administration registration for
hemp-testing labs.
* Easing burdensome regulations.
* Permitting hemp grain for animal
feed.
* Addressing THC levels for hemp.
Jonathan Miller, general counsel
for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable,
10 August 2023 | MJBizMagazine
Jonathan
Miller
some language there. And that's
the biggest thing that the industry
is hoping for.
As far as CBD goes, it doesn't
have to be the Farm Bill. The folks
in the House Energy and Commerce
Committee would like to see a
separate bill. They'd like to maintain
jurisdiction over it. But I do think
there is consensus that we'd like to
see something done this year.
spoke with MJBizMagazine
about these priorities as well as
potential challenges for low-THC
cannabis farmers and processors as
lawmakers prepare to hammer out
a new Farm Bill.
What have you heard about
changes to hemp in the 2023
U.S. Farm Bill?
The biggest issue that we're confronting
as an industry is the lack
of regulation by the FDA when it
comes to CBD and other cannabinoids.
I know there's going to be an
effort to amend the Farm Bill with
language that would require that
the FDA regulate CBD.
There's a jurisdictional issue at
the front, so the (U.S. House of
Representatives) version of the
Farm Bill that comes out will not
have anything about the FDA. The
House Agriculture Committee does
not have jurisdiction over the FDA.
But when it gets to the Senate,
or when it gets to the floor, or
when it gets into conference committee,
we are expecting to see
What about Farm Bill changes
regarding hemp-based
intoxicating cannabinoids?
There's a lot of discussion about
that. I think there's going to be
efforts to try to ban them. We're
going to be fighting that. We're
worried that we're going see a new
prohibition, which doesn't work.
I also think there will be efforts to
try to ensure that they're legal, as
long as they are strictly regulated
and kept out of the hands of
children. So, I think that's going to
be a big battle line. I don't know if
it's going to be resolved during the
Farm Bill, but it's certainly going to
be brought up.
My biggest worry is that we don't
see enough hemp in the Farm Bill.
We really need to deal with the CBD
issue and our agenda. We're not
going to get everything we want,
but I'd love to be able to get to
some clear victories for hemp.
We're hoping to reduce
regulations on (hemp farmers and
processors). That's the biggest
challenge, as well as the protections
in terms of processing-so the
processors don't have to worry
MJBiz - August 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBiz - August 2023
