Four Republican senators asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate Chinese criminal organizations in the cannabis and intoxicating-hemp markets, as a Senate companion to the House hemp framework bill is reported to be close.
NATIONAL, October 3, 2026: Four Republican senators asked Attorney General Todd Blanche on September 30 to investigate Chinese transnational criminal organizations operating in the nation's cannabis and intoxicating-hemp markets, according to a press release from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
The letter was also signed by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Ted Budd, R-N.C. It asks the Justice Department to examine the groups' financing, land use, chemical imports and possible connections to the Chinese Communist Party. The senators point to gaps in the 2018 Farm Bill that allowed "unregulated intoxicating hemp and THC products to proliferate," and write that without addressing that loophole, criminal networks could "flood American commerce with synthetic products." The letter notes that federal hemp reforms are scheduled to take effect December 11, 2026. Budd and Ricketts led the unsuccessful August push to strip the December 11 delay from the funding bill.
Separately, a Senate bill to keep hemp-derived cannabinoid products federally legal under national regulations is expected to be introduced soon, according to The Marijuana Herald on October 1. The bill's sponsors are Sens. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The Herald describes it as the Senate counterpart to the House's Lawful Hemp Protection Act, sponsored by Reps. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and Angie Craig, D-Minn. That House bill would set a 1 percent total THC threshold, a minimum purchase age of 21, federal manufacturing, testing and labeling standards, and a tax of 5 cents per milligram of THC on beverages. The Herald did not cite a specific introduction date. Sheehy first said in July that legislation would come "relatively soon."
In a third item, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proposed changing its 2027 national youth survey to drop the instruction telling students not to count hemp products when reporting marijuana use, keeping only a CBD-only exclusion, according to The Marijuana Herald on October 1. The proposal has been submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review.
The Food and Drug Administration has still not published the hemp cannabinoid list and container guidance it was required to issue by February 10. The Beverage Regulatory Parity Act and the Lawful Hemp Protection Act remain with House committees, with no hearing or markup scheduled, as of the latest available reporting.
Forma works embedded on hemp and THC beverage formulation and commercial scale-up, from compliant dosing and label claims through co-packer qualification. This wire is a byproduct of the same regulatory tracking that informs that work.
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