Touting Medicare’s coverage of cannabidiol (CBD) for seniors as “the most important senior health initiative of the century,” President Trump provided a huge boost for the hemp industry as Congress debates the language of the next Farm Bill.
While CBD is simply one of the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, it is an important part of most consumable hemp products. In that sense, the president’s expression of support for CBD could be viewed as a support of the consumable hemp industry as a whole. The support also could provide an incentive for Republicans not inclined to go along with hemp reform —choosing, rather, an all-out ban on consumable hemp — to question whether they wish to be out of lockstep with the White House.
Given the current government shutdown and the focus on negotiations to re-open the federal government, it is too soon to tell the significance of President Trump’s statement (which, it should be acknowledged, was issued on social media on a Sunday afternoon and not as part of a much more publicized policy statement). That said, there are good reasons for the hemp industry to feel some long-awaited wind at its back in light of other efforts in Congress to effectively ban consumable hemp products.
