We need to get the hemp story right so we can help KY farmers in the future | Opinion

As one of the early founders of the modern movement to return industrial hemp to the American landscape, I feel compelled to offer historical clarity — and a reality check — that I hope will help round out recent reporting on Senator Mitch McConnell’s language in recent legislation.

I immigrated to Pennsylvania from Canada, where hemp had been legal for decades and was quietly strengthening rural economies. When I arrived in the United States, to farm, it was astonishing to discover that in a nation rooted in free enterprise, innovation, and agriculture, a crop once central to American farming had been left behind. Before my hemp work, I spent years in motorsport and philanthropy with actor and team owner Paul Newman. That experience taught me profound lessons about agriculture, service, and helping families navigate urgent medical needs—lessons that I drew upon when the story of young Charlotte Figi and her mother Paige captured global attention.

The difference was that I took steps to track down Paige to hear her story. When it became evident that she found the solution to her daughter’s 1,000+ seizures a month by extracting an essential oil from hemp, we went to work. Paige and I co-founded Coalition for Access Now, a 501(c)(3), to help families obtain legal protections for CBD at the state level. But we quickly discovered that even when states passed laws, producing CBD within those states remained federally prohibited. That forced us to seek federal solutions — at the same time Senator McConnell was hearing from Kentucky farmers like Andy Graves, who were watching tobacco subsidies disappear and hoping to bring back a crop their grandparents once grew: industrial hemp.

The 2014 Farm Bill language Senator McConnell championed — the Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research Act — was a breakthrough. But it came with limitations. Hemp remained on the Controlled Substances Act, leaving universities reluctant to participate for fear of losing federal funding. States were left to determine their own definitions of “research,” resulting in wildly inconsistent frameworks. Pennsylvania restricted research to small university plots. Kentucky allowed full commercialization, even interstate commerce. And there was no federal oversight to unify or correct those discrepancies.

This inconsistency — combined with the compelling story of Charlotte — triggered the national CBD boom. Companies like Kentucky’s GenCanna and Colorado’s Charlotte’s Web scaled at extraordinary speed, and in the process, the CBD sector hijacked both the media spotlight and the original meaning of the word “hemp.” Meanwhile, true grain-and-fiber companies, such as Andy Graves’ Atalo, were overshadowed and ultimately pressured into pivoting toward CBD. The result was predictable: massive CBD overproduction, market collapse, bankruptcies, and farmers left holding the bag. It, too, resulted in no fiber or grain industry.

When the CBD market crashed, many of those same, mostly bad, actors pivoted again. With capital from who knows where — they found they could extract one or many of the 150+ trace minor cannabinoids from hemp, synthetically replicate them at scale, and create artificial high-THC intoxicants. They then argued, state by state, that these synthetic psychoactive products were “legal” under the 2018 Farm Bill. These substances — now widely known as gas-station weed—exist today for one reason: Congress has never given FDA the regulatory authority it requested as early as 2017, including in high-level discussions I personally participated in at the request of the White House.

Let me be clear, what we have today: Is not what Senator McConnell fought for. It is not what American farmers asked for. And it is not what the industrial hemp movement spent years working to restore.

Industrial hemp grown for grain and fiber — used in food and feed, textiles, bioplastics, energy, and construction materials — represents a global market exceeding US$15 trillion. Innovative Kentucky companies such as Victory Hemp and HempWood offer a glimpse of America’s potential to lead in this space. But these responsible businesses cannot compete with unregulated, artificially produced intoxicants masquerading as “hemp.” It’s confusing for their bankers and for potential investors. Without both, it’s tough to build and scale a legitimate business.

Senator McConnell’s language in the Continuing Resolution should not be portrayed as an attack. It is a measured, necessary effort to restore Congress’s original intent and prevent a small group of bad actors from undermining an entire agricultural sector. Those opposing the language claim they seek regulation, yet they have taken no meaningful steps toward it. NHA — in response to our listening to Congress and the Administration — reached out to every hemp advocacy, many who have fought against us, and invited them to participate in joining an Industry Ad Hoc Working Group to bring forward a framework for Congress.

Some joined, others stood firm to go it alone. Those that have are hopeful that tens of thousands of dollars in political donations to figures like Senator Rand Paul and Congressman James Comer along with a handful of elected now clamoring to repeal what was just signed into law, will insulate them from congressional action—at the expense of farmers, consumers, and legitimate hemp businesses.

For the sake of public understanding—and for the farmers whose livelihoods depend on this industry—I urge you to look at the full context around “hemp.” The narrow narrative promoted by artificial, synthetic-intoxicant interests is not the whole story. America deserves the truth, and so do the farmers who expected much of this industry from the start.

Geoff Whaling is Chairman of the National Hemp Association.

This story was originally published December 4, 2025 at 11:19 AM.