1. United States
2. Ind.
3. Letter

Dear Representative, On November 12, 2026, a federal ban on most hemp products takes effect. It was never debated as drug policy. It was inserted as Section 781 into the November 2025 spending deal (H.R. 5371) that reopened the government, then signed with a one-year countdown. It redefines legal hemp by total THC and caps finished products at 0.4 milligrams per container, which sweeps in not only intoxicating products but much of the full-spectrum CBD wellness aisle that never got anyone high. Texas shows the result. After the state Supreme Court cleared the way in May, Texas began enforcing a ban on July 31, 2026 covering delta-8, delta-10, THCP and other hemp-derived cannabinoids, with jail time and fines for simple possession. Industry estimates put 60 to 90 percent of products off the shelves overnight. Retailers are already suing, arguing the state is criminalizing products the 2018 Farm Bill made legal. This is prohibition wearing a new label. It hands the market back to the incumbents who benefit when hemp is illegal, and it turns adults who bought a legal product last year into criminal defendants this year. We have run this experiment before. Banning a legal agricultural good does not make it vanish. It fills dockets and jail cells with nonviolent people and delivers nothing for public safety. What I’m asking: 1. Delay the November 12 effective date. Rep. Jim Baird of Indiana introduced the Hemp Planting Predictability Act (H.R. 7024) to push it back two years. Cosponsor or support it. 2. Replace prohibition with regulation. Set an age floor of 21, potency limits, mandatory testing, and honest labeling, on the model of the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act. Regulate hemp the way we regulate alcohol and tobacco. 3. At a minimum, ensure no adult is arrested or given a criminal record over a product that was federally legal weeks earlier. The country is not asking Congress to look away. It is asking Congress to let adults be adults, and to regulate this market instead of criminalizing the people in it. Sincerely, A Voting Constituent