A TV camera on a tripod aimed at the lit U.S. Capitol dome at dusk, with no one behind it

Someone Is Paying to Attack Hemp Rules. They Won't Say Who.

A 30-second ad is running against a sitting U.S. senator, and the charge against him comes down to this: he wants rules for the hemp drinks and gummies on your local shop's shelf instead of a ban that clears them out on December 11.

The group paying for it is called NADP Action Fund. It's a new 501(c)(4), which means it doesn't have to say who funds it. So far, it hasn't.

We're 56 days from the federal cap. Here's what we know, what we don't, and why it matters to anyone who buys, sells or grows hemp.

What the ad says

Marijuana Moment reported the spot on October 15, a day after Politico's Influence newsletter first flagged it. The target is Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT). The narrator complains that Sheehy wants THC drinks sold at the convenience store, "next to soft drinks," rather than only in dispensaries.

Then the turn: "Congress closed the loophole that let shady companies put them there. Now Sheehy is working with shady companies to keep it open."

What Sheehy is actually doing is working with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on a bipartisan bill that would call off the ban and set rules for the hemp market. Marijuana Moment reports the bill hasn't been filed yet. The article included no response from Sheehy's office or from the group.

Calling that "working with shady companies" is a choice. Age limits, lab testing and honest labels are how every legal adult product in this country gets sold. Beer has rules. Bourbon has rules. Nobody calls a liquor license a loophole.

What nobody will tell you

We don't know who funds NADP Action Fund. Marijuana Moment says it's unclear what the acronym even stands for. No spending figures or markets have been reported.

There's plenty of guessing. According to the same report, some hemp industry sources suspect ties to state-licensed marijuana businesses. Several marijuana industry sources said they had no idea, and some pointed at prohibitionist groups that want hemp THC and marijuana both gone.

We're not adding a name to that pile. We don't have one, and nobody else has put one on the record. Here's what we will say: if you're paying to call other people shady, the public should get to see whose money is doing the talking.

The cannabis industry is split, and it's saying so out loud

The ad lands in the middle of a public fight inside the cannabis world, and some of it is surprisingly candid.

On October 10, the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable posted that "the cannabis industry is united in urging Congress to close the farm bill loophole," adding that the loophole "fueled the proliferation of gas station weed," as Cannabis Business Times reported.

Four days later, Chris Lindsey, vice president of policy and state advocacy at the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, wrote in a Marijuana Moment op-ed that "intoxicating hemp competes for the same customers while contributing nothing, using a business model that depends on avoiding regulation."

Read that again. Same customers. That's you. When one industry asks Congress to remove its competition, shoppers pay for it: fewer stores, fewer choices, higher prices.

Not everyone in cannabis agrees, and that matters. The Marijuana Policy Project wrote to Congress that the ban would make "95% of the current hemp products on the market illegal" and urged lawmakers to "support sensible hemp regulation," according to Cannabis Business Times. And on October 15, Aaron Smith of Third Rail Advisory, who founded the National Cannabis Industry Association, wrote in his own op-ed that "a ban does not clear the path to legalization."

Where we agree with the other side, and where we don't

Lindsey spends much of his op-ed on lab-made products like delta-8, HHC and THCP. On that, we're with him. Ban the fake stuff.

Federal law already does. The prohibition on cannabinoids not naturally produced by the cannabis plant takes effect November 12, and that date didn't move, according to Vicente LLP.

The problem is December 11. That's when the rest of Section 781 kicks in, after the extension Congress passed in H.R. 6500, signed September 2. Finished hemp products get capped at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. That cap doesn't stop at synthetics. It reaches the real plant too, including plenty of full spectrum products sold legally since 2018.

What we're asking for isn't a loophole. It's a rulebook:

21 and up, every sale
Third-party lab testing
Honest labels with real THC numbers
No packaging aimed at kids
Synthetics off the shelf for good

It's the same list hemp businesses keep bringing to lawmakers. In Frankfort this week, Kentucky hemp companies asked for federal rules built on a 21-and-up age limit, good manufacturing practices and third-party testing, Spectrum News 1 reported. "We have a critical task to achieve in Washington, D.C.," said Jim Higdon, cofounder of Cornbread Hemp.

Follow the money yourself

Anonymous ads work best when the only voices lawmakers hear are the ones buying airtime. You can push back with two things nobody can hide.

First, the record. Federal lobbying reports are public and searchable at lda.gov. Anyone can look up who is paying to lobby on hemp, and we'll be reading the next round closely.

Second, your voice. When Congress comes back after the November election, it has until December 11 to pass real rules. A 30-second ad can't outvote the farmers, shop owners and adults who actually buy hemp, unless we stay quiet.

So do one thing today: tell your senators you want hemp regulated, not banned. It takes two minutes. Take action here.

Regulate it. Don't eliminate it.

Sources

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