EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Tom Cotton, Rep. Andy Harris, and AG Tim Griffin commend hemp ban, say overturn unlikely

Although some hemp supporters have made repeated efforts to reverse Congress’s recently passed provision that restricts intoxicating hemp products. Republican leaders on Capitol Hill tell the Washington Reporter that the likelihood of undoing the ban is low.

The restriction was included in the government funding legislation signed by President Donald Trump in November. That law fundamentally narrows the federal definition of “hemp,” banning consumable hemp products controversially sold in gas stations.

Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.), a former GOP Doctors Caucus co-chair, told the Washington Reporter that “closing the hemp loophole that has resulted in the spread of unregulated intoxicating hemp-derived products that are being sold online and in gas stations and corner stores across the country is a good thing.”

Harris pointed out the risk of such products to children, adding that “many of these products are accessible and attractive to children, resulting in thousands of calls to U.S. poison control centers, with more than 30 percent involving children ages 5 years and younger. The provision is supported by 39 State Attorneys General and over 81 national and state public health, medical, law enforcement, and other organizations.”

Those concerns were echoed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), who told the Reporter that the previous hemp framework allowed unregulated intoxicants to be sold in places easily accessible to families. Cotton told the Reporter that these “unregulated drugs poison Arkansas children and should not be sold in easily accessible places like gas stations,” adding that he was “proud to support this common sense measure to protect our state’s kids.”

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, who helped lead the national effort to ban intoxicating hemp products, claims this problem was clear and long-standing. “There’s no question that hemp-derived delta products are harmful, and up until recently they were unregulated in Arkansas and most other states,” Griffin told the Reporter. Griffin noted that the products were widely sold online and in convenience stores and gas stations with no age requirements, and that “the packaging intentionally appealed to children, mimicking packaging for well-known candy and snacks that kids routinely consume.” Consequences were inevitable, Griffin said, explaining that the products ended up in the hands of children, who “were filling emergency rooms, and in some instances even died from them.” He added that he was “proud to have led the effort nationally to get these harmful products banned,” calling the action “common sense.”

However, shortly after the prohibition was enacted, Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) introduced the American Hemp Protection Act of 2025, which would repeal the section of the law that redefines hemp and reinstates the prior legal framework that allowed intoxicating THC to be sold in gas stations.

In the Senate, Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) have introduced a cannabis reform bill called the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act, similar to legislation they filed in the previous Congress that attracted little support and saw no action before adjournment.

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) also said in November that he planned to file legislation to undo the prohibition, but no such bill has been formally introduced by the Kentuckian.

There is little evidence these efforts have a real chance of success, sources on the Hill tell the Reporter. Supporters of intoxicating hemp have not secured traction on major legislative vehicles, and senior GOP lawmakers told the Reporter that they believe leadership does not intend to revisit the issue.

A Senate source told the Reporter that “getting rid of the intoxicating poison sold at gas stations across the country is a huge policy win. Parents will notice and appreciate it. It’s too bad that a few fringe members like Ilhan Omar and Nancy Mace think that intoxicating THC drinks are good to sell at the local 7-11,but the good news is these members have zero influence.”