In the wake of the Department of Justice (DOJ) announcing its cannabis rescheduling agenda on April 23, President Donald Trump called attention to another matter from his executive order: regulating hemp products.
When Trump directed his administration to reclassify cannabis as a Schedule III substance in December, he also directed his White House staff to work with Congress to find a regulatory pathway that ensures Americans have safe access to nonintoxicating, full-spectrum CBD products, including those derived from hemp.
The president also directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help improve safe access to hemp-derived cannabinoid products through developing research, utilizing real-world evidence and informing “standards of care.”
After U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on April 23 that the DOJ’s two-phase Schedule III plans are now in motion, Trump turned his attention to the hemp segment of his order.
“In December, I signed a very important Executive Order calling for Research and Innovation for Hemp-derived CBD – Something that has made a HUGE difference for so many people,” Trump wrote Thursday in a Truth Social post. “In fact, ONE in FIVE adults used it in the past year, and many say it improved their chronic pain enormously.”
The president also mentioned how Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz set up and launched a CBD pilot program on April 1, which allows doctors to recommend hemp-derived CBD products as an alternative treatment, including up to $500 per year in coverage for those products.
“But more must be done!” Trump wrote. “I am calling on Congress to update the Law to ensure that Americans can continue to access the full-spectrum CBD products they have come to rely on, and that help them, while preserving Congress's intent to restrict the sale of products that pose Health risks. We must get this done RIGHT and FAST, especially for those who saw that CBD helps them.”
Trump was referring to the federal government’s forthcoming ban on intoxicating hemp products in November, which includes those containing more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per serving, more than 0.3% of total THC (including THCA), or synthetic or unnatural cannabinoids.
The CMS pilot program veers from that definition for intoxicating hemp products by allowing beneficiaries to access products containing up to 3 milligrams of total THC per serving.
“Plus, I am told it will also help our GREAT FARMERS, who we love, and will always be there for,” Trump wrote. “Please get it done, and SOON.”
While American hemp farmers lacked certainty in the future of the cannabinoid segment of the industry when they made their spring 2026 planting decisions, there have been myriad pushes by lawmakers in Congress to change the course. These include proposals to let states opt out of the federal ban, delay the ban by two years, replace the ban with a regulatory scheme and repeal the ban entirely.
Most recently, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., drafted the Legal Hemp Protection Act on April 19, proposing a taxed and regulatory framework that would include testing, packaging and labeling requirements; age restrictions; retail licensing requirements for hemp-derived beverages in interstate commerce through the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau; and milligram caps determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“Thank you, President Trump, for leading the charge to expand access to CBD products,” Barr said April 23 on X. “I’m working in Congress to deliver these critical reforms so farmers have certainty and Americans can continue to access safe, reliable hemp-derived products.”
Barr’s proposal would redefine hemp to include a 1% delta-9 THC threshold on a dry-weight basis, but that delta-9 concentration would be measured on the finished consumer product (not on raw, floral hemp material or work-in-progress material).
The hemp definition would also exclude cannabis seeds produced by plants that exceed a delta-9 THC concentration of more than 1% on a dry-weight basis, veering from the forthcoming federal ban’s exclusion of seeds from cannabis plants that exceed a total THC concentration of 0.3% on a dry-weight basis.
Barr’s proposed hemp definition would also exclude cannabinoids not found in or capable of being naturally produced by the plant.
The congressman could attach his legislation as an amendment to the 2026 Farm Bill, which the House Committee on Agriculture advanced last month. The Rules Committee is scheduled to take up the legislation on April 27.
