A proposed ban on intoxicating hemp products emerged as an obstacle Monday to ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said he would oppose a package that would end the shutdown because it closes a loophole that has enabled the proliferation of widely available intoxicating hemp products, hurting a growing industry in his state.
A provision added to funding for the Agriculture Department would close a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that inadvertently paved the way for intoxicating products to be sold nationwide.
Without unanimous consent from all senators, it could take days longer to pass the funding deal in the Senate and send it to the House.
Some members of the Kentucky congressional delegation, including Sen. Mitch McConnell, favor closing the loophole. But many others object because they fear it will hurt the state’s agricultural industry.
“I detest the tactics that are being used to try to get this ban enacted into law,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told POLITICO. “Kentucky benefits from hemp production, and I fully support Senator Rand Paul’s efforts to strip the unrelated hemp ban from the Senate funding bill.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer led a bipartisan letter to Speaker Mike Johnson in September opposing the language, which Massie signed.
Kentucky was an early hemp adopter when the plant was legalized as a Department of Agriculture pilot program in the 2014 Farm Bill.
Since then, the hemp industry added 114 licensed growers and 4,700 acres of the crop, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. The industry employs nearly 3,500 people, according to some local estimates.
Advances in hemp science since 2014 propelled demand for hemp-derived products like THC seltzers, edibles and tinctures that have come under increasing criticism for their intoxicating properties.
The new Senate language would restrict the amount of intoxicating cannabinoids that can be in hemp and products derived from the plant.
As of 2025, 104 of the 114 licensed growers in Kentucky were producing hemp for a variety of consumable products, and could be impacted by the senate language.
Kentucky’s Deparmtent of Agriculture said it supports clarifying the definition of hemp but has also proposed changes to the language now before the Senate.
“We acknowledge there are issues in the previous farm bill and I’ve been proactive at suggesting workable solutions to protect hemp farmers in the state of Kentucky,” Jonathan Shell, the state’s agriculture commissioner, said in a statement. “Kentucky’s farmers deserve stability and support as they work to grow and diversify their operations.”
