A Federal Bill Finally Drops: Here's What it Gets Right, & Why We're Still Calling BS

After years of asking for clear and enforceable safety regulations, a bipartisan federal bill has finally landed. It's called the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act, and on the surface, it reads like progress.

It gives the FDA oversight; it requires batch-level testing and accurate labeling; it bans synthetic cannabinoids and child-appealing packaging; it restricts online access for minors; it creates baseline manufacturing standards; it grants enforcement powers. In short, it codifies many of the core principles responsible operators have already adopted.

But tucked inside all of that is a single, deeply flawed provision: a cap of 5 milligrams of THC per serving, and 50 milligrams per package, with an unexplained exception allowing beverages to contain up to 10 milligrams.

There is no scientific justification for this; there is no consumer safety rationale; there is no consistent logic. There is only a glaring outlier in the middle of an otherwise rational bill.

The result is obvious: a policy gift to beverage companies seeking to monopolize a format. It’s being sold as a safety measure, but it's nothing more than a market protection tool aimed at cutting out product categories that don’t fit inside a can.

These are the same brands that sat out the first five years of this fight; the same ones who showed up late and well-funded, who never asked for age gates, child-resistant packaging, or batch transparency until it became convenient to do so. Now, they’re attempting to speak for the entire industry and using trade organizations to launder their policy goals.

Let’s be clear: we support most of this bill. We believe in regulation, and we have operated under the spirit of it for years. But we do not and will not support a provision that arbitrarily limits dosage without any evidentiary basis, while making a bizarre exception for one format that happens to align with the business model of the loudest players in the room.

Congress should not be in the business of picking winners; the FDA should not be enshrining competitive advantages into federal law; and responsible hemp operators should not be punished for doing things right simply because they chose a different delivery format.

We have always asked to be regulated. We believe bad actors, synthetic compounds, and unsafe formulations have no place in this market. But we also believe this industry should be governed by science, not lobbying power.

We will continue to advocate for a smart, equitable framework. We will continue to follow the highest standards available. But we will not pretend this version of the bill is ready for passage.

Call your member of Congress. Tell them the bill needs to be fixed. And continue to support the operators who have been doing this right all along—regardless of whether they come in a can.