Funding Bill Provision Would Slow Spread of Intoxicating Hemp Products, Protecting Kids and Communities
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Stop Gas Station Heroin coalition today commended the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations for unanimously approving the Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
This Senate funding bill and its House counterpart, approved in committee last month, show bipartisan support for closing the unregulated, intoxicating hemp loophole — correcting a legal gray area created by the 2018 Farm Bill and slowing the spread of Gas Station Heroin in American communities.
Gas Station Heroin refers to a range of foreign lab-made synthetic substances that include tianeptine, nitrous oxide, semi-synthetic and synthetic alkaloid products, and intoxicating hemp products such as Delta-8, Delta-9, Delta-10, and HHC. At issue here is this latter category of intoxicating hemp and its legal definition.
According to the 2018 Farm Bill, the federal government classifies hemp as cannabis and its derivatives with no more than 0.3% Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a dry weight basis. Delta-9-THC is the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, responsible for the euphoric high associated with marijuana use.
Critically, the Senate funding bill would decrease the Delta-9-THC limit for hemp-derived products to zero. The government’s current definition of hemp permits the manufacture and distribution of products containing non-Delta-9 intoxicating cannabinoids — including Delta-8, Delta-10, and HHC — as long as their Delta-9 content remains below the statutory threshold.
The narrow standards of the 2018 Farm Bill have resulted in a regulatory loophole exploited by manufacturers and retailers of intoxicating, hemp-derived products sold in convenience stores, gas stations, and smoke shops across the country.
These chemically altered, highly concentrated products are concocted with imported extracts from overseas labs and rake in significant revenue for the international Gas Station Heroin syndicate, a multi-billion-dollar enterprise exploiting legal loopholes to drive addiction and profit while endangering Americans.
The Senate funding bill restores the original intent of the 2018 Farm Bill, which was never meant to create a loophole for synthetic THC, while protecting legitimate hemp farmers from rogue actors flooding the market with lab-made Gas Station Heroin.
Moreover, the bill would mark the most consequential federal intervention in cannabinoid policy in years, preempting and superseding a growing patchwork of state laws by establishing a uniform federal prohibition on synthetically manipulated and intoxicating hemp derivatives.
This important legislation underscores that natural botanicals are not the same as harmful synthetic substances. Although whole plant products have been used safely for centuries, bad actors are now isolating basic compounds from plants and chemically altering them in labs to create hyper-potent drugs that are poisoning consumers.
Stop Gas Station Heroin applauds Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Susan Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee John Hoeven, and Senator Mitch McConnell for their leadership in combating the Gas Station Heroin crisis by seeking to close the hemp loophole.
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