USDA Clarifies the December 31 DEA Lab Registration Deadline: What It Actually Means for Your COAs When USDA announced it was pushing the DEA laboratory registration requirement for hemp testing from the November 12, 2026 compliance date to December 31, 2026, the hemp industry collectively exhaled. But the relief was...

USDA Clarifies the December 31 DEA Lab Registration Deadline: What It Actually Means for Your COAs When USDA announced it was pushing the DEA laboratory registration requirement for hemp testing from the November 12, 2026 compliance date to December 31, 2026, the hemp industry collectively exhaled. But the relief was...

Senate Agriculture Committee Schedules June Hemp Markup: What Operators Should Expect The Senate Agriculture Committee has announced a June markup session for its version of the Farm Bill, with hemp provisions confirmed as a major agenda item. For B2B hemp operators who have been monitoring the legislative timeline, the June...

National Retailers Begin Making Hemp Category Decisions: What the Shelf Space Shakeout Means for B2B Brands National retailers are no longer waiting for November 12 to make hemp category decisions. Across grocery, natural foods, pharmacy, and specialty retail channels, buyers are actively reviewing their hemp assortments, requesting documentation from existing...

FTC Targets Hemp Health Claims: What the New Warning Letter Wave Means for Your Marketing The Federal Trade Commission has issued a new round of warning letters to hemp and CBD companies making what the agency characterizes as unsubstantiated health claims. The latest letters are notable not just for the...

USDA Hemp Program Issues New Guidance on Licensing, Crop Reporting, and the 2026 Growing Season USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service has released updated guidance for licensed hemp producers and state hemp programs covering the 2026 growing season. The guidance addresses several areas where the transition to the November 12 compliance framework...

EU Hemp Framework Shifts Create New Sourcing Options for US B2B Buyers While the US hemp industry has been focused on the November 12 federal compliance deadline, significant regulatory changes in the European Union have been reshaping the international hemp ingredient market. For US B2B buyers, the EU framework shifts...

Griffith Hemp Regulation Alternative Draws Opposition From Both Sides as Farm Bill Debate Continues 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...

White House Drug Control Strategy Puts Intoxicating Hemp in the Crosshairs — What B2B Brands Must Know The Trump administration released its 2026 National Drug Control Strategy on May 4, 2026 — and for the hemp industry, the document contains a clear and deliberate signal. The White House Office of...

Paul, Klobuchar, Ernst Introduce Hemp Safety Enforcement Act: The State Opt-Out Bill Explained On April 16, 2026, Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced the Hemp Safety Enforcement Act — a bipartisan Senate bill that would create a state opt-out mechanism from the federal hemp...

Trump Administration Claims New Legal Authority to Act Against Intoxicating Hemp — What It Changes For most of the past six months, the working assumption in the hemp industry has been clear: the November 12, 2026 date is the compliance cliff — the date after which products that don’t meet...

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...