US Hemp Roundtable Takes to DC for Hemp Talks with Sen McConnell

On Wednesday (Apr 6th), seventeen of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable Board of Directors and staff members flew to D.C., where they met with multiple members of Congress, including U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to voice their support for federal regulation of CBD, hemp business financial and other protections, and The Hemp Advancement Act.

As reported by the roundtable, the “D.C. Fly-In” involved upwards of a dozen meetings (as well as some virtual meetings held this week) with approximately twenty members of congress, focusing on a number of highly important issues related to current and future hemp regulation.

Chief among these issues was “the big one”—FDA regulation of CBD—which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell personally discussed with U.S. Hemp Roundtable members.

Other top-level directives strategized around in the additional meetings included supporting a number of hemp bills that would classify CBD as a dietary supplement (S. 1698 and H.R. 841), clarifying and improving existing Farm Bill provisions (H.R. 6645, The Hemp Advancement Act of 2022), and protecting “depository institutions” from penalty for servicing legitimate cannabis businesses (SAFE Banking Act). 

The general consensus by the roundtable following their polite incursion into Capitol Hill was that bi-partisan support of pro-hemp legislation is still very much alive after a long stretch of virtual meetings and letter writing. 

Per Roundtable president Pete Meachum, “After a too long absence from in-person meetings, yesterday was a very welcome opportunity to sit down with some of our biggest supporters on Capitol Hill to discuss strategy, and to advocate to new friends for their support of hemp’s policy agenda.”

While we and most other hemp industry watchers have long learned to tamp down our expectations in these situations, we will monitor closely for more rumblings from D.C. and share developments as they unfold.