SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
When Congress approved the continuing resolution to reopen the government, it tucked inside that legislation a last-minute provision that will crack down on the spread of psychoactive hemp products, and that could end what's become a multibillion-dollar industry. Steve Harrison from member station WFAE in Charlotte has this report.
STEVE HARRISON, BYLINE: In many states where marijuana is still illegal, like Texas, Florida, Wisconsin and North Carolina, businesses are selling products that have the same mind-altering effects. They just aren't selling marijuana technically. Here's Matt Mitchell, owner of Hemp and Barrel in Pineville, a suburb of Charlotte.
MATT MITCHELL: This will be all our flowers and usually what people kind of are looking at, and that would be the THC-A percentage.
HARRISON: His THC-A cigarettes produce a high just like a joint, and there's more.
MITCHELL: Here's your CBD and your concentrates. There will be pet stuff over here, some tea, topicals, edibles, you know, chocolate, gummies, some vapes.
HARRISON: The proliferation of such products was made possible by vague wording in the 2018 Farm Bill. It allowed hemp farmers to make synthetic products like Delta 8 that mimic marijuana. The new federal ban prohibits hemp products with trace amounts of any THC. Here's Mitchell again.
MITCHELL: It would shut everything down. There's just no way to get to that level.
HARRISON: Some states have already restricted hemp products that get people high, and 39 state attorneys general signed a letter last month urging the federal government to act. They say these products have inundated communities due to a, quote, "grievously mistaken interpretation" of the 2018 Farm Bill. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin led the effort. He says kids were eating gummies they found around the house and ended up in the hospital. He says his state tested the products.
TIM GRIFFIN: And it was showing more THC content in some instances than the medical marijuana that is allowed to be sold. This stuff could really get you sick.
HARRISON: And in North Carolina, it's very unregulated. In fact, the hemp market is like the Wild West, says Phil Dixon with the University of North Carolina's School of Government. He says it's grown to a $28 billion market nationwide with chains like Total Wine selling THC-infused drinks.
PHIL DIXON: We've seen an expansion of these products move from predominantly hemp stores or smoke shops into really more mainstream venues like grocery stores and high-end restaurants.
HARRISON: But that market is on track to vanish when the ban goes into effect in a year. That does give businesses time to either wind down or lobby Congress to let them sell some hemp products. For NPR News, I'm Steve Harrison in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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