How the THC industry got rolled in Congress

Editor’s note: Due to the fast-moving nature of this situation, this piece will be updated periodically with new information. It was originally published 4:45pm ET on 11/10, and last updated 5:35pm ET on 11/13.

As you may have heard, the longest government shutdown in history is over. Republican senators—abetted by at least eight Democrats in the so-called Cave Caucus, and likely Senate Minority Leader and connoisseur of defeat Chuck Schumer passed appropriations bills in the upper chamber on the evening of Monday, November 10th; the House of Representatives did likewise Wednesday, November 12th. President Trump signed it around 10pm that night. The federal government is back open, and the country’s extremely lucrative hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) industry has a year to fight for its life.

Shortly before all this went down, I filed a column at VinePair laying out how powerful trade groups both within the beverage-alcohol industry, and in the broader consumer-packaged-goods sector, had thrown their considerable lobbying muscle against THC, calling on Congress to close the “loophole” it created in the 2018 farm bill that allowed this multi-billion-dollar trade to emerge kinda-sorta out of nowhere earlier this decade. Orgs repping the THC trade, as well as the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of American and 50+ beer distributors, were among those trying to shepherd the fledgling business through the onslaught. The flurry of legislative horse-trading, cat-herding, and/or rat-fucking Congressional leaders undertook vis-à-vis THC directly following the publication of my piece validated my analysis that the fate of the shutdown and the industry were bizarrely intertwined.

Below are more notes on how this all went down, and what happens next.

Fingers needs your support to do more independent journalism.