MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A federal ban on intoxicating products derived from hemp, like THC drinks, could come as soon as November. The White House is intervening and asking Congress to delay that. In Tennessee, hemp growers and sellers are already dealing with a state ban. Marianna Bacallao from member station WPLN reports.
MARIANNA BACALLAO, BYLINE: On his farm in Readyville, Tennessee, Lee Crabtree has returned to growing some seasonal favorites like blackberries. He picks a big one off the vine.
LEE CRABTREE: It's hard to tell when they're exactly ripe. Usually, when the flies are eating it, you know it's sweet.
BACALLAO: Much of Crabtree's farm had been devoted to CBD, the nonpsychoactive part of hemp. His goods were full-spectrum CBD, meaning, along with the nonpsychoactive CBD, it included the psychoactive THC. But a new state law makes that side of his business impossible. As of this month, the state has banned the sale and cultivation of THCA, a type of THC that was legalized nationwide in 2018 through a loophole in the farm bill. So where there once were rows of hemp, Crabtree has planted a variety of sweet corn.
CRABTREE: And even right off the plant, it's just so sweet. It's great. I'm hoping that it sells good.
BACALLAO: This new chapter of his business is all about trying new things. Like many former hemp farmers, Crabtree has had to pivot.
CRABTREE: I'm not making the money that I would've been making, you know, back when CBD was huge there for a minute. It was really good there for a moment. It had its time in the sun.
BACALLAO: If these new crops don't sell, he says he'll be looking for a job, along with many other growers and retailers that can't stay in business. There's a bigger threat on the horizon for the larger hemp industry when a national ban on THC hemp is poised to take effect this November.
BEAU WHITNEY: I've described it as an extinction-level event.
BACALLAO: That's hemp economist Beau Whitney. He says for the half of all U.S. states where marijuana isn't legal, the ban means no THC products on the market. But for the places where it's legal, consumers could still feel the pinch without cheaper alternatives like delta-8. And losing the hemp industry means losing tax revenue for a lot of states.
WHITNEY: The impact goes way beyond just the cannabinoid industry.
BACALLAO: Whitney says the ban puts hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. In light of the looming federal ban, some Tennessee farmers are pivoting to growing a fiber variety of hemp. In Springfield, Tennessee, farmer Bill Corbin is preparing his first crop of hemp for the French company HEMP-it, which uses it for packaging and car parts.
BILL CORBIN: There's not a person in this industry that didn't know this day was coming.
BACALLAO: Corbin says the industry was unsustainable, and he agrees with lawmakers' efforts to tamp down on people using hemp derivatives recreationally. But he's worried about consumers who use it medicinally.
CORBIN: Take me, for example. I'm an older person. I have issues with arthritis. I rely heavily on full-spectrum CBD.
BACALLAO: That's CBD that has a little of the psychoactive THC. And medicinal THC is a big part of the market, says Frederick Cawthon with the Tennessee Hemp Alliance.
FREDERICK CAWTHON: A lot of people think it's the young generation. No. When you look at the numbers and if you talk to the operators, the data shows it's your grandmother. It's your auntie. It's the church lady, actually.
BACALLAO: The Trump administration has asked Congress to reconsider the nationwide ban on THC hemp.
For NPR News, I'm Marianna Bacallao in Nashville.
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