With a growing demand for hemp worldwide, it begs the question just how countries across the globe are handling the newly forming market and rules and regulations surrounding it.
The Law Library of Congress recently issued a new milestone report on hemp regulations, specifically investigating how countries are approaching issues around hemp cultivation, product testing and ensuring legal businesses are properly licensed.
Humans have long understood the many medicinal and industrial benefits of hemp, though only now is contemporary society beginning to catch up. In the West, the 2018 Farm Bill changed U.S. federal policy surrounding hemp, removing it from the Controlled Substances Act and authorizing the “production of hemp” and “consideration of hemp as an agricultural product.”
Since then, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have been entrenched in rulemaking and policy processes regarding hemp, which could lead to revision in the iteration of the Farm Bill, expected in 2023.
A Library of Congress blog post affirms that the demand and production of hemp are growing worldwides, forecasted to show “significant growth” in the next decade.
The 134-page report, “Regulation of Hemp,” looks at policy in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, the Slovak Republic, the United Kingdom (UK), and the European Union (EU). All jurisdictions in the report allow cultivation of hemp, and the report goes back as far as 1947, when hemp cultivation for restricted purposes was legalized in Japan.
The report was released back in November 2022, but it is only now being publicized by the Library of Congress.
The report covers when cultivation and production of hemp was legalized in each region, how hemp is defined (regarding allowable delta-9 THC levels), under what restrictions and circumstances (if any) hemp is able to be cultivated or produced, the rules for processing and manufacturing of hemp and hemp-containing products and the licensing and registration requirements associated.
The report also notes the varying definitions of hemp throughout the world, specifically in regard to imposed THC limits. The U.S., for example, has a THC cap at 0.3% THC on a dry-weight basis, whereas the U.K. deems cannabis with a THC level below 0.2% can be cultivated for industrial purposes and Ecuador defines industrial hemp as having a THC content lower than 1%.
Its appendix also looks into more than 90 jurisdictions that have legal hemp cultivation in some respect.
The report, and overall looking more broadly at global hemp policy, could help U.S. leaders to better inform their market as it continues to grow. Even though cannabis still isn’t federally legal, the legalization of hemp and, in turn, accessibility of myriad CBD products has steadily introduced a number of changes to the U.S. landscape.
In January, the FDA concluded that existing regulatory frameworks are not appropriate for CBD and that “a new regulatory pathway for CBD is needed that balances individuals’ desire for access to CBD products with the regulatory oversight needed to manage risks,” adding that the agency is prepared to work with Congress to reach a solution.
“A new regulatory pathway would benefit consumers by providing safeguards and oversight to manage and minimize risks related to CBD products,” said FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. in a news release. “Some risk management tools could include clear labels, prevention of contaminants, CBD content limits, and measures, such as minimum purchase age, to mitigate the risk of ingestion by children. In addition, a new pathway could provide access and oversight for certain CBD-containing products for animals.”
Regarding the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill, hemp advocates are hoping the USDA will relax some of its requirements, namely raising the allowable level of THC from 0.3% to 1% to allow for more flexibility for growers and to avoid crop destruction should yields exceed that amount.
