Inside a commercial kitchen near Raleigh, North Carolina, Nicholas Hohns pours a blue-green substance into gridded moulds to create a flagship product for his business: high-strength THC gummies containing the main psychoactive component found in marijuana.
asserted
Hohns → pour → marijuana
He could soon be forced to close the operation.
uncertain
He → force → operation
The United States’ multibillion-dollar market for intoxicating hemp items — spanning THC-infused seltzers stocked by Target stores to smokable cannabis flower — faces potential shutdown after Congress voted to plug a federal loophole that permitted the trade to expand.
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trade → span → loophole
Industry lobbyists and several lawmakers are working to rescue the sector.
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lobbyists → work → sector
A short-term federal spending bill signed by President Donald Trump last month pushed back the implementation date of the "hemp THC ban" from Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, granting Congress additional time to consider regulating the products rather than an outright prohibition.
asserted
bill → sign → prohibition
“It’s such a weird spot to be in,” said Hohns.
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Hohns → ’ → ?
“You worked 100 hours a week for the past four years, and, yeah, you made some money.
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you → work → money
But now you might have nothing to show for it.”
uncertain
you → have → it
Marijuana is cultivated for high levels of THC in its flowers.
asserted
Marijuana → cultivate → flowers
Low-THC hemp has historically been grown for its sturdy fibers, food or wellness products.
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hemp → grow → fibers
“Rope, not dope” was long the motto of farmers who supported legalizing hemp.
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who → support → hemp
To give farmers a new cash crop, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell successfully pushed the legalization of industrial hemp in the 2018 farm bill.
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McConnell → give → bill
But the way that law defined hemp — as having less than 0.3% of a specific type of THC, called delta-9, by weight — opened a huge loophole.
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law → define → loophole
Beverages or snacks could meet that threshold and still contain more than enough THC to get people high.
uncertain
Beverages → meet → people
Vape oil, gummy candies, chips, sodas and other unregulated, untested products laden with hemp-derived THC spread around the country, including in gas stations or convenience stores, where they were available even to teens.
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they → derive → teens
Some businesses started selling marijuana under the theory that raw marijuana’s THC is in a form called THC-A, which only turns into impairing delta-9 when heated or burned.
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which → start → delta-9
The products evaded state prohibitions on recreational weed or undercut heavily taxed and regulated cannabis where it is legal.
Dozens of states responded by regulating or banning impairing hemp products.
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Dozens → evade → products
McConnell finally closed the loophole late last year by inserting a hemp THC ban into a measure that ended the longest government shutdown in history.
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that → close → history
The ban, which limits the amount of THC in hemp products to 0.4 milligrams per container, wouldn’t take effect for a year.
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which → limit → year
The ban “threatens to reduce retail revenues by $28.3 billion, displacing 225,000 jobs and reducing state sales tax potential by $2.1 billion,” according to a report last month from Whitney Economics, which studies the market.
uncertain
which → threaten → market
The industry hopes to save itself by restricting impairing products to people 21 and older, limiting how much THC can be in a package, and banning imported cannabis compounds.
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THC → hop → compounds
The owners of Kentucky’s Cornbread Hemp, Eric Zipperle and Jim Higdon, are prepared to cap their products at, say, 5 milligrams if that’s what it takes to win support from lawmakers. But the 0.4 milligram limit would destroy their business, they said.
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they → prepare → business
“If it goes through in December, this place is toast — it’s gone,” Zipperle said.
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Zipperle → go → December
They have 105 employees, sell hemp beverages in 18 states and expect to bring in $65 million this year.
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They → have → million
The 0.4-milligram cap is so low that it would ban even some non-impairing CBD products, such as topical lotions, said Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the industry group U.S. Hemp Roundtable.
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Miller → ban → group
Hohns, who runs Deutermann Farms in Clayton, North Carolina, entered the hemp industry after losing his job as a personal trainer during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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who → run → pandemic
North Carolina has not legalized either medical or recreational marijuana, but many of the edibles Hohns makes are more potent than what's available in states that have.
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that → legalize → states
“When I started seeing THC edibles being sold … I was like, I got 18 months to two years to make money in this industry,” Hohns said.
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Hohns → start → industry
“No way is the government just going to sit here and let us do this when this was supposed to be for fiber, plastics, building materials, rope.
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this → go → fiber
Hohns kept his capital investments minimal, fearing a shutdown.
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Hohns → keep → shutdown
He has considered making other products, such as creatine gummies, if he has to get out of the hemp THC business.
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he → consider → business
Drinkin' Buds, a cannabis beverage company in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has mothballed production.
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Buds → mothball → production
Co-founder Matt Swanson took himself off the payroll on Thursday.
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Swanson → take → Thursday
“There’s just so much uncertainty,” Swanson said.
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Swanson → ’ → ?
“I'm actively looking for employment.”
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I → look → employment
Among those who have come to the defense of the hemp industry are alcohol retailers, including Total Wine & More.
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retailers → come → Wine
Sales of cannabis seltzers have helped offset falling alcohol sales.
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Sales → help → sales
Opponents include people who say the products are dangerous.
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products → include → people
“I have sympathy for people losing their jobs, but I also have sympathy for the many, many more people whose lives are affected by this,” said Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
asserted
Sabet → have → Marijuana
The regulated legal marijuana industry, which sees hemp THC as unfair competition, also supports the ban.
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which → see → ban
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
