USDA Delays DEA-Registered Lab Requirement to December 31, 2026 — What It Means for Hemp Testing Amid the noise surrounding the November 12, 2026 hemp compliance deadline, a separate and easily overlooked regulatory development has significant implications for hemp testing: the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has announced it will delay...

US Hemp Roundtable’s 365-Day Mission: A Regulatory Framework Instead of a Total Ban When the Agricultural Appropriations Act passed in November 2025 with its hemp redefinition and November 12, 2026 compliance deadline embedded in it, the US Hemp Roundtable — the industry’s primary trade and advocacy organization — responded with...

Colorado’s Illegal Hemp Bombshell: Regulators Privately Admit the Problem Is “Larger Than We Can Quantify” A ProPublica investigation published this week has exposed one of the most significant supply chain integrity stories in the hemp industry’s recent history — and its implications extend far beyond Colorado. In a private virtual...

Texas Hemp Smoke Shops Face Continuing Uncertainty After May 1 Injunction — What the Ongoing Lawsuit Means Texas hemp businesses have been living on borrowed time since March 31, 2026, when the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) adopted sweeping new hemp regulations that effectively banned the retail sale...

The Regulatory Fork in the Road While the 2024 Farm Bill's November 12 compliance deadline dominates hemp industry headlines, a quieter legislative battle is unfolding in Congress that could reshape the long-term regulatory framework for hemp products. Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) has introduced the Lawful Hemp Protection Act, a bill...

Ohio's Hemp Crackdown Hits a Legal Wall Ohio's legislative effort to restrict hemp-derived products is facing mounting legal resistance, with courts issuing temporary restraining orders (TROs) blocking enforcement of the state's hemp ban provisions and at least one ruling characterizing the legislation as "discriminatory" in how it treats hemp relative...

Another Legislative Proposal, Another Industry Divide Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) has put forward a hemp regulation alternative that takes a distinct approach from both the 2024 Farm Bill's enforcement framework and the competing proposals circulating in Congress — including the Hemp Safety Enforcement Act's state opt-out model and Rep. Barr's...

Introduction The Texas Supreme Court handed the state’s hemp industry a significant blow on May 1, 2026, ruling that the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has the authority to classify delta-8 THC as a Schedule I controlled substance — and lifting the temporary injunction that had shielded hemp retailers...

Introduction On April 30, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 224-200 to pass the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 — the 2026 Farm Bill. The margin was narrow. The impact on the hemp industry was decisive: the bill passed without any language delaying or modifying the...

Introduction As the House passed its Farm Bill without hemp delay provisions on April 30, attention in the hemp industry has shifted entirely to the Senate — and to a small cluster of legislative vehicles that could, if advanced, push the November 12 compliance deadline further into the future. One...

Introduction New Jersey is not waiting for November 12 to begin tightening hemp THC standards. The state is implementing a two-stage compliance framework: an interim standard that takes effect May 31, 2026, followed by a full prohibition on intoxicating hemp beverage sales through general retail channels on November 13, 2026....

Introduction California has taken one of the most consequential state-level actions on hemp THC of any jurisdiction in the country: emergency regulations that effectively prohibit hemp-derived THC products from being sold through general retail and require them to enter the state’s established licensed cannabis regulatory system. For the hemp industry,...

Introduction The wait is over for Missouri hemp retailers — and not in the way they hoped. On April 23, 2026, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 2641 into law, establishing the “Intoxicating Cannabinoid Control Act” and effectively banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products in the state beginning...

Introduction Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) delivered a significant regulatory shock to small hemp producers on April 21, 2026, when it published two new lab bulletins establishing updated testing compliance requirements. For vaping products, the new rules take effect May 1. For beverages, the requirements are immediate. The rules...

Introduction Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) announced in April 2026 that it is pledging a significant crackdown on a practice that has been quietly undermining the state’s regulated cannabis market: manufacturers using cheap, unregulated hemp to produce products sold as licensed marijuana in state dispensaries. The enforcement announcement, which was...

Introduction As states across the country figure out what to do with hemp-derived THC beverages after November 12, 2026, New Jersey is charting a notably different path than outright prohibition. Rather than simply banning hemp THC beverages from the market, New Jersey is advancing legislation that would route those products...

Introduction The hemp industry had been watching the House Agriculture Committee’s markup of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 as a potential vehicle for delay or relief from the November 12 compliance deadline. On March 5, 2026, that window effectively closed. The committee voted 34-17 to advance...

Introduction Buried inside the 2026 Farm Bill's hemp provisions is a change that could meaningfully improve hemp testing infrastructure across the industry: the proposed removal of the DEA laboratory registration requirement for hemp testing, replaced by a new USDA-led accreditation process developed in consultation with the DEA. For B2B hemp...