Chattanooga’s hemp industry could be hit hard by a last-minute provision added to the Senate bill that could end the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
The measure would set the legally permissible level of the psychoactive compound in hemp-derived products well below what is present in most products sold in Tennessee.
“I just have never seen our federal government enact a prohibition policy like this that has such a sweeping and devastating effect,” said John Kerns, CEO of New Bloom Labs, a Chattanooga-based hemp testing company. “It’s robbing a lawful industry — and these are my colleagues, my employees. It’s robbing us of our ability to make a living.”
The hemp industry went mainstream in Tennessee and across the country after a 2018 farm bill legalized some hemp-derived products. Hemp is cannabis that contains 0.3% or less of the psychoactive cannabinoid delta-9 THC, which is the source of a user’s high.
THC-infused products like gummies and beverages are legal in Tennessee if they contain less than 15 milligrams per serving of the psychoactive compound.