On August 13, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a hemp industry trade association, filed a formal response to the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), just over one month after the bill’s authors introduced a discussion draft. The CAOA would end the federal prohibition of cannabis, among other issues. If implemented, regulatory responsibility of cannabis would be transferred from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and the FDA.

The U.S. Hemp Roundtable urged the CAOA sponsors, Senators Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker, and Ron Wyden, to clear regulatory pathways for non-intoxicating cannabis products to be marketed and sold legally in food and beverages. While the comments largely focused on CBD, the group encouraged the inclusion of other non-intoxicating cannabis substances, like CBG and CBN.

The group’s comments primarily focused on the bill’s lack of protection for CBD products and encouraged lawmakers to further clarify the legal difference between marijuana and hemp. “Hemp-derived CBD, as well as other hemp derivatives, have been sold in the consumer marketplace for years […] By subjecting hemp-derived ingredients to a uniquely onerous regulatory regime, or continuing to treat them as illegal substances, the draft CAOA not only unfairly burdens hemp farmers, manufacturers and consumers, but it may also encourage black market sales of these products.”

The group also encouraged the CAOA authors to amend the statutory definition of “hemp.” The 2018 Farm Bill defined hemp as containing no more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable proposed that the limit on finished consumer products be capped at 0.3% total THC, including Delta-8, but that the legal limit on the crop and intermediate stages of the products be raised to 1.0%.

Comments on the draft CAOA will be accepted until September 1.