The HEMP Act reality check:
✅ Industry says it’s the best legislative option
✅ Creates federal CBD pathway
✅ FDA milligram limits with 3-year deadline
⚠️ AHPA: ‘Starting point, not finished solution’
⚠️ Still needs ‘rigorous scientific assessment’
⚠️ 50-state patchwork continues until passage
Farmers can’t wait for perfection. They need clarity before spring. 🌾
#HEMPAct #CBDRegulation #HempReform #FarmersFirst
Overview
Industry stakeholders weigh in on the HEMP Act. AHPA President Graham Rigby calls it a ‘starting point’ that must prioritize consumer safety through rigorous scientific assessment. Jonathan Miller of the US Hemp Roundtable warns that without an extension, there will be ‘tremendous disruption up and down the food chain, particularly for farmers.’ Planting decisions for 2026 must be made well before regulatory outcomes are known. The 50-state patchwork continues causing confusion.
“Congress has 9 months to save the hemp industry. Here’s the legislative landscape: 🏛️
✅ HEMP Act introduced (bipartisan)
✅ Wyden-Blumenauer amendments in progress
✅ Executive Order directing agencies to minimize disruption
❌ No vote scheduled yet
❌ Cannabis industry opposition
❌ Typical legislative pace is too slow
The best path: amendment to next appropriations bill. The backup: state-level lobbying. Time is running out. #HempLegislation #Congress2026″
Clinical Perspective
ANCIENT ENZYMES, MODERN MEDICINE: WHAT WAGENINGEN’S CANNABIS DISCOVERY MEANS
Researchers at Wageningen University published a breakthrough in Nature that reframes our understanding of cannabis biochemistry. They identified ancestral enzymes in cannabis that produce CBC (cannabichromene)—a cannabinoid most consumers have never heard of—as potentially the plant’s original cannabinoid.
The implications are significant. Modern cannabis has been bred almost exclusively for THC and CBD production. But the evolutionary history of the plant suggests CBC and other minor cannabinoids were the primary output for millions of years. These ancestral pathways were suppressed by selective breeding, not eliminated.
The team used molecular phylogenetics to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cannabinoid synthase enzymes, demonstrating that the CBC pathway predates both THCA and CBDA synthesis. In practical terms, this means the enzymes that produce CBC are more genetically stable and potentially more efficient.
For the cannabinoid industry, this opens a door: if CBC production can be optimized using these ancestral enzymes—whether in planta or via biosynthesis—it could unlock commercial-scale production of a cannabinoid with documented anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and neuroprotective properties.
This is the kind of research that reminds us why the regulatory debate matters. Without legal clarity, American researchers and companies can’t capitalize on discoveries like this. The science is advancing. The law is retreating.
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