Regulate Cannabis Like Corn? Us Farm Bill Proposal Raises Eyebrows, Hopes

A seemingly offbeat idea to finally approve federal marijuana legalization is getting cannabis-reform advocates talking: What about adding high-THC cannabis to low-THC hemp in the next Farm Bill?It’s an idea few in the cannabis advocacy community have considered.

April 1, 2023 | Source: MJBizDaily | by Kristen Nichols

A seemingly offbeat idea to finally approve federal marijuana legalization is getting cannabis-reform advocates talking: What about adding high-THC cannabis to low-THC hemp in the next Farm Bill?

It’s an idea few in the cannabis advocacy community have considered.

But the suggestion isn’t coming from just any pro-legalization member of Congress. It’s an idea from a powerful gatekeeper: the chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Democratic Rep. David Scott of Georgia.

Scott floated the idea a couple months ago after hearing powerful testimony from Amber Littlejohn, executive director of the Minority Cannabis Business Association.

Littlejohn told lawmakers that small and minority-owned marijuana companies likely won’t survive without some help from Congress, adding that state-level social equity programs have not been able to keep many minority-owned businesses afloat.

In response, Scott said the next Farm Bill coming up in 2023 should address the barriers that small businesses and Black entrepreneurs face when trying to start legal marijuana companies under state law.