Attorney General Bonta Joins Bipartisan Letter to Thank Congress, Urge Continued Protections from Intoxicating Hemp Products

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today, along with 34 other attorneys general, sent a letter thanking Congress for updating the language of the Farm Bill and urging Congress to continue protecting Californians from intoxicating hemp products. The letter is in response to Congress closing a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that led to the proliferation of intoxicating hemp products across the nation.
 
“For years, dangerous, intoxicating items disguised as everyday snacks have been readily available to California consumers,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The closing of this loophole protects our children and all consumers from these unsafe products. It also ensures that well-meaning farmers can continue to grow legal hemp, while nefarious actors are held accountable. I’m happy to join this bipartisan effort to thank Congress for closing the 2018 loophole and encourage them to ensure the new regulation is enacted without change or delay.”
 
The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 legalized industrial hemp for commercial use. Congress’s goal was to allow for the production and sale of industrial hemp as a non-intoxicating commodity. But the definition of hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill contained an inadvertent ambiguity that bad actors exploited to market untested intoxicating products to the American public.
 
Under the 2018 Farm Bill, industrial hemp-derived products cannot contain more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis. However, because the 2018 Farm Bill did not reference other cannabinoids that exist in the cannabis plant or are derived from it, companies took advantage of the loophole in the law.  By converting legal hemp extractions into hemp‑derived intoxicating products containing delta‑8 THC, delta‑10 THC, THCA, and synthetically derived THC to be sold, these companies profited from selling products that got adults and unsuspecting children high.
 
When Congress revised the “hemp” definition in November 2025, in the Appropriations Bill, Pub. L. 119-37, it capped total natural psychoactive cannabinoid content (including THC and THCA) at 0.4 milligrams per container. That definition now limits the total THC content of hemp to 0.3% on a dry weight basis and excludes “loophole” products.
 
In the letter, the bipartisan coalition congratulates Congress for its leadership in closing the loophole, which protected consumers, provided much-needed regulatory clarity, and preserved legitimate industrial, agricultural, and non-intoxicating hemp markets. They urge Congress to remain vigilant by rejecting any effort to delay, repeal, suspend, or weaken the November 2025 redefinition of “hemp” and by ensuring that the redefinition takes effect as enacted and remains in place thereafter, as failure to do so would result in renewed litigation, inconsistent enforcement, regulatory uncertainty, increased youth access to intoxicating products, and disruption of lawful businesses that have already adjusted their operations to comply with the new federal framework.
 
In sending this letter, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming.

Here is a copy of the letter.