Is a MAGA-Aligned Think Tank Using the Hemp Ban to Advance a New Federal War on Cannabis?

OG article by Rolando García

December 10, 2025

In November 2025, Donald Trump signed a provision in a federal government reopening bill that imposes the most far-reaching hemp prohibition in modern U.S. history. Buried without debate, the measure rewrites hemp's legal definition, capping hemp-derived products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container and banning all cannabinoids produced through chemical conversion. Effective November 13, 2026, this will recategorize beverages, gummies, vapes, tinctures, and manufacturing extracts as Schedule I substances, effectively collapsing the national hemp economy established by the 2018 Farm Bill. This shift raises questions about whether the ban corrects past regulatory oversights or signals a broader conservative push against cannabis. The Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, has long advocated for returning cannabis to full federal prohibition. Legal expert Paul J. Larkin Jr. argues that botanical cannabis fails FDA safety, efficacy, and uniformity standards, insisting only synthetic compounds qualify as approved drugs. This stance aligns with Project 2025, a MAGA-aligned blueprint that centralizes executive power, consolidates enforcement, and curtails agency independence. Project 2025's Justice Department directives emphasize rigorous prosecution of interstate drug activity, including possession of distributable quantities. Under this framework, Schedule III rescheduling could serve as a pretext for FDA-mandated approvals, enabling federal intervention in state cannabis markets. The hemp ban's opaque process—inserted into an appropriations bill with support from Mitch McConnell and failure of Rand Paul's amendment—highlights potential for swift, uncontroversial policy shifts. The ban also impacts cannabis seeds: previously legal as hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill if containing no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC, seeds from plants exceeding 0.3% total THC are now classified as marijuana, halting interstate seed commerce and confining genetics exchange to states.