A $28B hemp THC industry is fighting to save itself from a looming federal ban

In a commercial kitchen outside Raleigh, North Carolina, Nicholas Hohns spreads a blue-green goo into a gridded mold, making one of his company's signature products: potent THC gummies, featuring the primary intoxicating compound found in marijuana .

It's a business he might soon have to give up. America's multibillion-dollar market for impairing hemp products — from THC seltzers sold at some Target stores to smokable cannabis flowers, and different from the regulated legal marijuana industry — faces potential elimination after Congress voted to close a loophole in federal law that has allowed it to flourish.

Advocates for the industry, along with some lawmakers, are fighting to save it. The short-term government-funding bill signed by President Donald Trump last month delayed the effective date of the "hemp THC ban" from Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, giving Congress more time to consider regulating the products rather than banning them.

"It's such a weird spot to be in," said Hohns. "You worked 100 hours a week for the past four years, and, yeah, you made some money. But now you might have nothing to show for it."

Sen. Mitch McConnell closed a loophole in the hemp law he championed

Marijuana and hemp are the same plant — cannabis. Marijuana is cultivated for high levels of THC in its flowers. Low-THC hemp has historically been grown for its sturdy fibers, food or wellness products. "Rope, not dope" was long the motto of farmers who supported legalizing hemp.

To give farmers a new cash crop, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell successfully pushed the legalization of industrial hemp in the 2018 farm bill.

But the way that law defined hemp — as having less than 0.3% of a specific type of THC, called delta-9, by weight — opened a huge loophole . Beverages or snacks could meet that threshold and still contain more than enough THC to get people high.

Vape oil, gummy candies, chips, sodas and other unregulated, untested products laden with hemp-derived THC spread around the country , including in gas stations or convenience stores, where they were available even to teens. Some businesses started selling marijuana under the theory that raw marijuana's THC is in a form called THC-A, which only turns into impairing delta-9 when heated or burned.

The products evaded state prohibitions on recreational weed or undercut heavily taxed and regulated cannabis where it is legal.

Dozens of states responded by regulating or banning impairing hemp products.

McConnell finally closed the loophole late last year by inserting a hemp THC ban into a measure that ended the longest government shutdown in history.