Trump administration push to trim red tape leaves hemp industry still tangled in rules

The Trump administration’s push to reduce government red tape means some hemp operators will continue to face more bureaucracy after the Department of Justice this month canceled some Biden-era rules aimed at supporting the industry.

In a notice dated Sept. 8, Attorney General Pam Bondi aborted the rulemaking process for a wide range of regulations. Two of them had been seen as positive steps for CBD research and hemp testing.

While DOJ said the withdrawals are “part of the Federal Government’s deregulatory initiative,” the result is the opposite: continued barriers for marijuana and hemp that Congress and regulators had only recently begun to remove.

Caught in a trap

The cancellation of the rules means that CBD is still caught in the same cumbersome framework as marijuana whenever it is studied for therapeutic use. Researchers face long delays in securing Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) approvals, duplicative paperwork with Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and difficulty sourcing compliant material—all of which stifles progress on clinical trials.

Under the 2022 Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, those barriers would have been eased, giving researchers faster access to verified CBD supplies and a clearer path to conduct studies. That statute directed the DEA to streamline its application process for scientists studying marijuana and CBD. The withdrawn rule would have provided the regulatory mechanism to carry out the statute.

While the DOJ action does not change the commercial status of hemp-derived CBD products, the law would have made it easier to build the scientific record that the FDA and policymakers need to shape future regulation and medical applications.

Lab registration

The second cancellation affects industrial hemp more broadly. That proposed rule would have waived DEA registration requirements for labs conducting chemical analysis solely on hemp. Industry stakeholders had welcomed the change as a way to expand testing capacity and reduce bottlenecks: farmers often had to send samples to a small number of DEA-registered labs, creating delays and costs. The withdrawn rule would have let more labs (those not DEA-registered) perform the THC compliance testing required.

Without the change, Farm Bill-compliant hemp remains subject to DEA-certified lab requirements, adding time and costs, and slowing product development.

Intervention

When regulations in the U.S. government’s rulemaking process are only proposed or otherwise not finalized, the Department of Justice or another agency has the authority to withdraw, rescind, or withhold them under laws which govern how regulations are proposed and adopted.

DOJ cannot cancel or repeal statutes passed by Congress—only choose not to finalize, enforce, or continue with proposed or existing regulatory actions or policy guidance. In this case, the department stepped in to halt unfinished rulemaking from the previous administration, scrapping the two hemp measures.