November 13, 2025
By Stew Weiss
On Wednesday November 12, 2025, Congress passed and the President signed into law a series of bills to end the long-running government shutdown, including the Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill (“2026 Farm Bill”). This Bill impacts numerous sectors associated with agriculture, food, and drugs.
Notably for local governments, the 2026 Farm Bill includes provisions that close the loophole created by the 2018 Farm Bill which decriminalized the sale of intoxicating products derived from industrial hemp.
In 2018, Congress included a provision in that year’s Farm Bill classifying Cannabis Sativa L. with concentrations of 0.3% delta-9 THC or less on a dry weight basis as “industrial hemp.” At the same time, the Farm Bill removed industrial hemp from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s schedule of controlled substances and authorized the cultivation and sale of industrial hemp nationwide.
This change was based on the widespread, and incorrect, belief that plants containing low concentrations of delta-9 THC were psychoactively inert. In other words, no one believed industrial hemp could be processed in a manner that would result in an intoxicating product. Further, industrial hemp was primarily touted for its material uses including in fiber and cloth, not for consumables. The cultivation of industrial hemp is regulated at the federal level by the USDA and at the state level by the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
The 2026 Farm Bill significantly narrows the definition of industrial hemp products to exclude plants that have any “quantifiable amounts” of THC, including common isomers like delta-8, delta-9 and delta-10, as well as derivatives like THCA. Further, the Bill reclassifies as a Schedule I controlled substance any hemp-derived products that contain:
1. All cannabinoids not capable of being naturally produced;
2. Any cannabinoids capable of being naturally produced but synthesized or manufactured outside of the plant; or
3. Any “quantifiable” amounts of THC, THCA, or other cannabinoids that have similar effects as THC on humans or animals.
Many of the unregulated intoxicating hemp products that are being sold in Illinois at gas stations and vape shops are now effectively banned under federal law.
It is important to distinguish that this change does not impact cannabis dispensaries licensed and regulated by the Illinois Department of Finance and Professional Regulation. In fact, the 2026 Farm Bill language was supported by many cannabis business operators whose sales are suffering from cannibalization by unregulated hemp products.
The most immediate impact of this change will likely be a federal crackdown on interstate commerce of hemp-derived intoxicating products, some of which are widely available through online sales. Whether the federal government will extend its enforcement efforts to in-person sales at unlicensed dispensaries and vape shops is unknown. Communities in Illinois that have adopted local prohibitions on the sale of hemp-derived intoxicating products can continue to enforce their local ordinances.
For additional guidance on unregulated hemp and cannabis law, please contact Stew Weiss or any other Elrod Friedman attorney.