Senators Paul and McConnell split on future of Kentucky’s $300 million hemp industry
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Senator Rand Paul warns Senator Mitch McConnell of bringing “devastation” to Kentucky’s $300 million hemp industry.
Hemp farmers and retailers are fighting back after McConnell pushed strict restrictions through Congress on many popular hemp THC products.
Critics argue the restriction effectively bans most hemp consumer and agricultural products.
Paul expressed frustration on Monday and said McConnell was not interested in compromising.
“If he sees an accomplishment in destroying a multimillion-dollar, actually billion-dollar industry, I don’t see that as an accomplishment,” Paul said. “I don’t know that we’re going to change his mind. But I think he has not been really well informed on this. I don’t think he understands the devastation this is going to bring.”
Paul’s remarks were made during a tour of Cornbread Hemp in Louisville.
The rapidly growing company makes gummies and seltzers containing THC derived from hemp.
They are products that company officials say would be severely impacted by McConnell’s restrictions.
Set to go into effect in 10 months, McConnell’s restrictions also have state hemp farmers already struggling to sell much of their 2025 harvest, and debating on taking a chance to plant the next crop in the spring.
“It is alarming that we have to get something done in the next couple of months to give farmers clarity,” Cornbread Hemp CEO Eric Zipperle said. “There’s going to be significant disruption to this industry starting in February and March.”
When asked for comment on Paul’s quote, “I don’t think he understands the devastation this is going to bring,” Senator Mitch McConnell’s office directed WAVE to a statement McConnell made on the Senate floor on Nov. 10:
“Unfortunately, companies have exploited a loophole in the 2018 legislation by taking legal amounts of THC from hemp and turning it into intoxicating substances and then marketing it to children in candy-like packaging and selling it in easily accessible places like gas stations and convenience stores across our country. So children end up being the unknowingly consumers of these poisonous products and being sent to the hospital at an alarming rate... Industrial hemp and CBD will remain legal for industrial applications — such as seed, stock, fiber, grain oil — or used in drug trials. This language merely clarifies the original intent of the 2018 farm bill, rooting out the bad actors and protecting the growing hemp industry. While some may masquerade as advocates for hemp farmers, even sometimes threatening to hold up government funding over this issue, I will continue my work on behalf of Kentucky farmers while protecting our children in the Commonwealth and across the country.”
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