A Letter to Our Community: What the November Hemp Ban Means for You, for Us, and for This Industry

---

From Adam & Holly, Co-Founders of Utokia Herb Co.

May 2026

We've been getting a lot of messages lately. Emails, DMs, comments. The same question keeps coming up:

"Is it true they're banning your products?"

The short answer is: yes. And we owe you the full, honest picture of what's happening, who's behind it, how it affects you, and what all of us can do about it.

If you want the full story continue reading. If you just want to know what this means for you, skip to the "What This Means for You" section.

What's Actually Happening

On November 12, 2025, Congress passed a government spending bill to end a 43-day federal shutdown. Buried inside that must-pass legislation was a provision called Section 781 that most Americans have never heard of, but that could wipe out the hemp wellness industry as we know it.

Section 781 rewrites the federal definition of "hemp" with three major changes that take effect on November 12, 2026:

A total THC standard. The old rule only measured delta-9 THC in the plant. The new rule measures total THC, which includes THCA along with other THC variants.

That sounds like a small technical change, but it has massive real-world consequences. Even traditional high-CBD hemp flower exceeds the 0.3% Total THC limit.

In practice, this makes it next to impossible for hemp crops to qualify as legal under the new definition. They would effectively be treated as marijuana under federal law, which is not allowed to be sold outside of dispensaries in states that are legal. This isn’t just about products marketed as “THCA flower.” It impacts the entire supply chain: No hemp flower = no hemp industry.

A 0.4 milligram per-container cap. Not per serving. Per entire container. This effectively eliminates 95%+ of the market.

A ban on converted cannabinoids. Any cannabinoid that was synthesized or manufactured outside the plant, even if it occurs naturally in the plant, is excluded. This targets delta-8 THC, which is typically made by converting CBD, but the language is broad enough that it raises questions about common processing methods used across the industry including how many cannabinoids like CBN and THCV are typically produced.

The U.S. Hemp Roundtable estimates that these changes would eliminate approximately 95% of existing hemp-derived cannabinoid products. That includes the vast majority of CBD products. Not just THC gummies and beverages. CBD tinctures, full-spectrum wellness products, sleep aids: nearly all of them exceed 0.4mg of total THC per container.

How This Happened (And Who Made It Happen)

This didn't happen through open debate. It didn't go through committee hearings. It didn't get its own vote. Section 781 was inserted into a must-pass spending bill during a government shutdown, which meant Congress had to swallow it whole or keep the government closed. There was no standalone discussion of hemp policy.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) authored the ban language. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the same senator who championed hemp legalization in the 2018 Farm Bill, pushed aggressively to close what he now calls a "loophole." When Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced an amendment to strip the hemp ban language, calling it "prohibition wrapped in consumer-safety gift paper," his motion was killed 76-24.

The coalition that pushed for this ban is worth understanding, because it tells you everything about what this is really about.

Licensed marijuana companies and their trade groups lobbied for the ban. They often falsely claim that hemp competition is "unsafe" and "unregulated" but in actuality its just bad for THEIR businesses. In other words: hemp products were cutting into their margins, and they wanted the competition removed by law.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), one of the country's leading anti-cannabis organizations, called Section 781 "the biggest change in marijuana policy in a generation" and celebrated it as a victory. So the people who don't want anyone to have access to cannabis in any form are cheering alongside the marijuana industry. Unlikely allies. Unless you understand that both groups benefit from fewer choices for consumers.

Some alcohol companies also lobbied in favor of the ban. Not all of them. In fact, more than 50 alcohol distributors opposed the ban, pointing out that hemp beverages have helped sustain their businesses as demand for alcohol has declined. But certain large beverage corporations pushed to eliminate a competitor.

Meanwhile, farmers, small businesses, veterans' groups, and millions of consumers were given no meaningful opportunity to weigh in.

The Absurd Contradiction at the Federal Level

Here's something that should make anyone's head spin.

On April 1, 2026, Medicare, the federal health insurance program, began covering hemp-derived CBD products for eligible seniors for the first time in U.S. history. No co-pay. Physician supervised. The federal government is literally funding research into the medical benefits of these products.

And the same federal government is set to ban most of those products months later.

It gets worse. The FDA was required to publish lists of affected cannabinoids within 90 days of Section 781's enactment. That deadline was February 2026. The FDA missed it. As of today, those lists still haven't been published. Companies like ours are being told to comply with a law whose scope the government itself hasn't finished defining.

"Wait, Didn't They Just Relax Marijuana Laws?" — The Schedule III Confusion

You may have seen recent headlines about marijuana being "rescheduled" and assumed things are moving in a more relaxed direction. We've gotten this question a lot, so let's clear it up, because the reality is almost the opposite of what most people think.

On April 23, 2026, the Department of Justice moved state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. This was a significant moment, but it's important to understand exactly who it helps and who it doesn't.

Schedule III applies only to FDA-approved marijuana products and marijuana sold through state-licensed medical dispensaries. That's it. Recreational marijuana remains Schedule I. And hemp-derived products like ours? They aren't classified as "marijuana" at all. They're governed by a completely separate legal definition under the Agricultural Marketing Act, which is exactly the definition that Section 781 is rewriting.

Here's what that means in plain terms: the rescheduling gives tax breaks and banking access to the same licensed marijuana operators who lobbied to ban our products. It does nothing to protect hemp companies, hemp farmers, or the customers who buy hemp-derived wellness products. Zero.

So the federal government is simultaneously loosening the rules for state-licensed marijuana businesses and tightening them to the point of elimination for the hemp industry. If you're wondering why the marijuana industry spent money lobbying for Section 781, this is your answer. They're pulling up the ladder behind them.

A broader hearing on whether to reschedule all marijuana, including recreational, begins June 29, 2026. But even if that process succeeds, it wouldn't change anything about the hemp ban. Section 781 is a separate law, and only Congress can fix it.

What This Means for You

If you're one of our customers who relies on our products for sleep, stress, discomfort, or just winding down after a long day, here's what you need to know:

Right now, nothing has changed. Every Utokia product currently available is still federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill definition. You can still purchase everything we offer today.

Between now and November 12, 2026, we will continue to provide these products for as long as we can. We are committed to serving our community up to the deadline.

You may experience limited availability. As we approach November, we may carry a more focused inventory. If you have favorites, we'd encourage you to stock up while you can. Our core lineup, including Green Apple, Strawberry Rhubarb, and Huckleberry, will be prioritized.

After November 12, we don't know exactly what the landscape looks like. If the law takes effect as written, every product in our current lineup would be impacted. We are actively working on reformulations that remove THC, but we want to be straight with you: lower-THC or THC-free products may not be as effective for some customers who rely on higher doses for sleep, pain management, or anxiety. We know that's a hard truth, and we're not going to pretend otherwise.

There's also a real risk that the FDA could designate non-intoxicating cannabinoids like CBN, CBC, and THCv on its "similar effects" list, which would subject them to the same 0.4mg cap. These are compounds that are not intoxicating. They don't get you high. But they compete with pharmaceutical sleep aids, anti-anxiety medications, and pain drugs. If you're wondering why the FDA might have an interest in restricting access to effective, plant-based alternatives that don't require a prescription, you're asking the right question.

Who Gets Hurt the Most

Let's be clear about who this law impacts:

Veterans who turned to hemp-derived products after years of being cycled through pharmaceuticals with serious side effects. Many veterans use our products because they actually work, without the dependency risks of prescription alternatives. This ban doesn't protect veterans. It takes away options that improve their quality of life.

Parents who use THC or CBD products to manage the stress, sleep deprivation, and physical demands of parenting. Not to get intoxicated. To get through the day and actually rest at night. These aren't party products. They're wellness tools.

Seniors managing chronic pain, inflammation, and sleep issues. The same seniors the federal government just started covering through Medicare for CBD. The irony is cruel.

Small businesses and farmers. This industry supports over 320,000 American jobs and generates $28.4 billion in economic activity. The vast majority of those jobs are at small, independent companies like ours, not corporate conglomerates. Farmers who transitioned from tobacco or commodity crops to high-value cannabinoid hemp cultivation now face the possibility of harvesting a crop that the federal government classifies as a Schedule I controlled substance.

And who doesn't get hurt? Multi-state marijuana operators with expensive licenses and political connections. Pharmaceutical companies whose sleep and anxiety medications face less competition. Anti-cannabis lobbying groups who can claim another policy win. The same players who pushed for this ban in the first place.

Where Things Stand Right Now

We want to be honest with you about the legislative picture, because there's reason for cautious hope, but not for complacency.

Several bills have been introduced to fix or delay Section 781:

• The American Hemp Protection Act (Rep. Nancy Mace) would repeal Section 781 entirely and restore the 2018 Farm Bill definition.

• The Hemp Planting Predictability Act (Rep. Jim Baird, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Amy Klobuchar) would delay the ban by two years, to November 2028, giving Congress time to build a real regulatory framework.

• The Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act (Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley) would replace the ban with age-21 minimums, mandatory testing, labeling standards, and reasonable per-serving THC limits.

• The Hemp Safety Enforcement Act (Sen. Rand Paul) would let states opt out of the ban if they have their own regulatory frameworks.

  
  

These are good bills with bipartisan support, none of them are perfect. But none of them have advanced. The 2026 Farm Bill just passed the House the end of April, and it did not include any language to delay or modify the hemp ban.

Amendments were filed and then withdrawn for reasons that haven't been made public. The ban language authored by Rep. Andy Harris and championed by the House Freedom Caucus was protected. The Senate is the next opportunity, but time is running out.

President Trump posted on Truth Social in late April calling on Congress to protect full-spectrum CBD products and the farmers who grow them. His December 2025 executive order directed agencies to develop a framework for hemp-derived cannabinoids. But an executive order cannot override a statute. Only Congress can change this law.

What You Can Do

We know "contact your representatives" can feel like shouting into the void. But on this issue, it genuinely matters. Many members of Congress don't fully understand the difference between hemp wellness products and recreational marijuana, and the people pushing this ban are counting on that confusion.

Contact your U.S. Representative and Senators. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable has made this incredibly easy. Visit hempsupporter.com and use their Federal and State Action Centers. You type in your zip code, and they'll populate a draft message to your elected officials. It takes about two minutes.

When you reach out, make it personal. Tell them:

• What products you use and why

• How they've improved your quality of life

• That you support regulation, not prohibition: age limits, testing, labeling, all of it

• That Section 781 was slipped into a spending bill without debate, and it deserves real consideration

  
  

Talk about this. Share this post. Bring it up with friends, family, and coworkers who use hemp products. Most people have no idea this is happening, and awareness is the first step.

Vote with this issue in mind. Midterm elections are coming. Every House seat and a third of the Senate will be on the ballot. The legislators who enabled this ban, and the ones fighting to fix it, should hear from the people they represent.

What We're Doing

We're a small company run by two people who care deeply about this community and these products. Here's where we stand:

• We will continue selling our full product line for as long as we legally can, up to the November deadline.

• We are reformulating select products to remove THC and explore cannabinoid blends that may remain compliant. We're doing this carefully, because we refuse to put our name on something that doesn't work.

• We are monitoring every piece of legislation at the federal level. If something changes, you'll hear from us immediately.

• We are being realistic. If the law takes effect as written, there will be gaps, possibly temporary, possibly longer. We may not be able to offer some of the products you rely on. We're planning for that scenario while fighting to prevent it.

  
  

We've been in this industry long enough to know that the people making these decisions in Washington are not thinking about the average American who finally sleeps through the night, or the veteran who stopped taking three prescriptions because a gummy works. They're thinking about market share, lobbying dollars, and political leverage.

But we're thinking about you. And we're not going anywhere.

"Why Not Just Sell Through Dispensaries?"

Some of you might be wondering: if hemp-derived products get banned, couldn't we just get a marijuana license and sell through dispensaries instead?

It's a fair question.

And the honest answer is: the licensed marijuana market is not built for companies like ours, and it's not built for customers like you, either.

Getting a license in most states costs tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and upwards of a million dollars to get set up and that's before you've sold a single product. In many markets, the number of available licenses is artificially limited, which drives up costs and favors large, well-capitalized operators over small brands. The application processes are opaque, politically connected, and in some states, widely regarded as corrupt. We've seen it firsthand.

But the bigger issue is what happens after you get a license. In the dispensary model, you don't sell directly to your customers. You sell to dispensaries, and they sell to the customers. That sounds simple until you learn how it actually works. Large dispensary chains often prioritize their own house brands or the brands with the deepest pockets. Smaller producers get squeezed out, placed on bottom shelves, or simply told there's no room. Payment terms are brutal. It is common for dispensaries to delay payment for weeks or months, and in some cases, producers never get paid at all. The risk sits entirely on the farmer and the manufacturer. The dispensary holds the leverage, and they know it.

We built Utokia to sell directly to the people who use our products. That's not just a business preference. It's how we keep prices reasonable, maintain quality, and actually hear from you when something works or doesn't. The dispensary model would strip all of that away and replace it with a system where a handful of gatekeepers decide which products you get access to, and at what price.

When people in the marijuana industry say that hemp companies should "just get a license," what they're really saying is: come play in our house, by our rules, where we control the game. That's not regulation. That's a closed market designed to protect incumbents.

How to Stay Informed

This situation is evolving week to week. Bills move, amendments get filed and withdrawn, the FDA may (eventually) publish its cannabinoid lists. The best way to stay in the loop:

• Subscribe to our email list at utokia.com. We'll send updates as major developments happen, not spam.

• Follow us on TikTok where we'll be breaking down updates in short, digestible videos.

• Follow the U.S. Hemp Roundtable at hempsupporter.com for the most comprehensive legislative tracking in the industry.

  
  

We started Utokia because we believe people deserve access to plant-based wellness products that actually work, without a prescription and without asking permission from a system that profits when you don't have alternatives. That belief hasn't changed. And no matter what happens in November, it won't.

Thank you for being part of this community. Now let's fight for it.

With love and grit,

Adam & Holly Founders, Utokia Herb Co.

---

Have questions we didn't answer? Reach out to us directly. We'll always tell you the truth, even when the truth is "we don't know yet."