Episode 27: The Loophole Was Federal. The Work Was State.

🎙️ Powered by THC Group, Policy, Decoded is the Sunday briefing that steps back from the churn and unpacks one consequential policy story shaping cannabis, hemp, alcohol, and regulated markets.This week, we confront the uncomfortable truth behind intoxicating hemp. Congress drew the line in the 2018 Farm Bill. The market engineered inside it. States inherited the consequences.We explain how “gas station gummies” and opportunistic products grew out of a federal definition - and how, at the same time, mature operators built adult-retail channels with testing, labeling, dosing limits, and age gating. Then we walk through what states actually did: bans aimed at the worst actors, plus real infrastructure - licensure, lab standards, potency definitions, retail boundaries, stop-sale authority, and revenue to fund enforcement.Finally, we break down the pending federal hemp rewrite, why the 0.4 mg per-container cap functions as a reclassification event for many state programs, and what happens when Washington changes the definition underneath systems that are already operating. This is not a culture-war fight. It is a federalism and governance test.Congress can close the loophole. The question is whether it will respect the state capacity built to manage its consequences.🔗 Related post: https://www.homegrown-group.com/blog/farm-billSubscribe to the Sunday briefing: https://policy-decoded.beehiiv.com/?modal=signupThis podcast may include content written or produced with the support of AI tools under human direction and editorial oversight.