Federal funding bill could spare Missouri hemp beverages from November ban

Hemp-derived THC beverages could stay on Missouri shelves past Nov. 12 — the day the state’s ban on intoxicating hemp products takes effect — if Congress gives final approval to a short-term funding bill and the president signs it.

In an overnight vote Saturday, the U.S. Senate approved a measure to fund federal agencies until Dec. 11. It would also delay the federal ban on intoxicating hemp THC products until that date. It now goes back to the U.S. House for final approval before heading to the president’s desk.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill this spring to take all intoxicating hemp products off the shelves starting Nov. 12, largely aligning state law with the federal ban that Congress approved last year.

But the state law carves out one exception: if Congress delays the federal ban, everything except intoxicating beverages is still banned in Missouri as scheduled. 

Jay Patel, president of the Missouri Hemp Trade Association, said there was bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate, with a vote of 61-31, to keep the delay in the funding package and it’s a “good sign” for the intoxicating hemp industry. 

“There’s a lot of support from the White House actually to get some sort of regulation passed that’s meaningful,” Patel said. “Whatever happens on the federal side, it’s not going to fully solve our problems in Missouri.”

The association and a coalition of hemp businesses filed a federal lawsuit last month in an attempt to halt the state hemp ban from going into effect in November.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District, claims the bill state lawmakers passed this spring contains “unconstitutionally vague” definitions for hemp and marijuana. 

John Grady, who owns Slaphappy Hemporium with his wife Kara in Rosebud, Mo., said the U.S. Senate’s action shows a strong likelihood that they’ll be able to sell their company’s THC seltzers through December. They’ve already had customers stocking up on their favorite items, such as edibles, that will be banned in Missouri no matter what action the federal government takes. 

“We started off as a beverage producer,” Grady said, “So for us, that is a good thing, but it also hurts the whole other part of our business.”

The Gradys are members of various different organizations that are pushing to use the delay to get comprehensive federal regulations for hemp products in place by Dec. 11.