A $28B hemp THC industry is fighting to save itself from a looming federal ban

In a commercial kitchen outside Raleigh, North Carolina, Nicholas Hohns spreads a blue-green goo into a gridded mold, making one of his company’s signature products: potent THC gummies, featuring the primary intoxicating compound found in marijuana.

It’s a business he might soon have to give up. America’s multibillion-dollar market for impairing hemp products — from THC seltzers sold at some Target stores to smokable cannabis flowers — faces potential elimination after Congress voted to close a loophole in federal law that has allowed it to flourish.

Advocates for the industry, along with some lawmakers, are fighting to save it. The short-term government-funding bill signed by President Donald Trump last month delayed the effective date of the “hemp THC ban” from Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, giving Congress more time to consider regulating the products rather than banning them.

“It’s such a weird spot to be in,” said Hohns. “You worked 100 hours a week for the past four years, and, yeah, you made some money. But now you might have nothing to show for it.”

Marijuana and hemp are the same plant — cannabis. Marijuana is cultivated for high levels of THC in its flowers. Low-THC hemp has historically been grown for its sturdy fibers, food or wellness products. “Rope, not dope” was long the motto of farmers who supported legalizing hemp.

To give farmers a new cash crop, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell successfully pushed the legalization of industrial hemp in the 2018 farm bill.

But the way that law defined hemp — as having less than 0.3% of a specific type of THC, called delta-9, by weight — opened a huge loophole. Beverages or snacks could meet that threshold and still contain more than enough THC to get people high.

Vape oil, gummy candies, chips, sodas and other unregulated, untested products laden with hemp-derived THC spread around the country, including in gas stations or convenience stores, where they were available even to teens. Some businesses started selling marijuana under the theory that raw marijuana’s THC is in a form called THC-A, which only turns into impairing delta-9 when heated or burned.

The products evaded state prohibitions on recreational weed or undercut heavily taxed and regulated cannabis where it is legal.

Dozens of states responded by regulating or banning impairing hemp products.

McConnell finally closed the loophole late last year by inserting a hemp THC ban into a measure that ended the longest government shutdown in history.

The ban, which limits the amount of THC in hemp products to 0.4 milligrams per container, wouldn’t take effect for a year.

The ban “threatens to reduce retail revenues by $28.3 billion, displacing 225,000 jobs and reducing state sales tax potential by $2.1 billion,” according to a report last month from Whitney Economics, which studies the market.

The industry hopes to save itself by restricting impairing products to people 21 and older, limiting how much THC can be in a package, and banning imported cannabis compounds.

The owners of Kentucky’s Cornbread Hemp, Eric Zipperle and Jim Higdon, are prepared to cap their products at, say, 5 milligrams if that’s what it takes to win support from lawmakers. But the 0.4 milligram limit would destroy their business, they said.

“If it goes through in December, this place is toast — it’s gone,” Zipperle said.

They have 105 employees, sell hemp beverages in 18 states and expect to bring in $65 million this year.

The 0.4-milligram cap is so low that it would ban even some non-impairing CBD products, such as topical lotions, said Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the industry group U.S. Hemp Roundtable.

Hohns, who runs Deutermann Farms in Clayton, North Carolina, entered the hemp industry after losing his job as a personal trainer during the COVID-19 pandemic. North Carolina has not legalized either medical or recreational marijuana, but many of the edibles Hohns makes are more potent than what's available in states that have.

“When I started seeing THC edibles being sold … I was like, I got 18 months to two years to make money in this industry,” Hohns said. “No way is the government just going to sit here and let us do this when this was supposed to be for fiber, plastics, building materials, rope.”

That was more than four years ago. Hohns kept his capital investments minimal, fearing a shutdown. He has considered making other products, such as creatine gummies, if he has to get out of the hemp THC business.

Things have been more stressful for others. Drinkin' Buds, a cannabis beverage company in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has mothballed production. Co-founder Matt Swanson took himself off the payroll on Thursday.

“There’s just so much uncertainty,” Swanson said. “I'm actively looking for employment.”

Among those who have come to the defense of the hemp industry are alcohol retailers, including Total Wine & More. Sales of cannabis seltzers have helped offset falling alcohol sales.

Opponents include people who say the products are dangerous.

“I have sympathy for people losing their jobs, but I also have sympathy for the many, many more people whose lives are affected by this,” said Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

The regulated legal marijuana industry, which sees hemp THC as unfair competition, also supports the ban. Cory Harris, a lobbyist for state-legal cannabis operators, suggested that dire predictions about its effect on the intoxicating hemp industry are overstated.

While the ban would end interstate sales of products like THC seltzers and gummies, some could find a home in legal in-state markets, he said. It's possible THC drinks could be sold at stores in the states where they were produced. States like North Carolina could adopt legal hemp programs.

“If you go from having virtually no rules to suddenly having an awful lot of rules, that’s a buzzkill,” Harris said. “Welcome to our world. But if you establish your whole business within a legally questionable loophole, that’s just sort of the risk you take.”

Associated Press reporters Allen G. Breed in Clayton, North Carolina, and Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed.

A mixer stirs a batch of blueberry lemonade gummies in a heated pot at the Deutermann Farms kitchen in Clayton, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Bags of THC- and CBD-infused edibles await delivery at Deutermann Farms in Clayton, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Hot gummy mixture drips off the table's edge as Nicholas Hohns uses a pastry knife to fill mold at his Deutermann Farms kitchen in Clayton, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Nicholas Hohns uses a pastry knife to spread freshly poured TCH- and CBD-infused gummy mixture into molds at his Deutermann Farms kitchen in Clayton, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Nicholas Hohns shows off a tray of strawberry-lemon CBD gummies at his Deutermann Farms kitchen in Clayton, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

MADRID, Spain (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of various cities in Spain on Saturday to demand help for renters, a day after lawmakers rejected a package of emergency measures aimed at tackling the nation’s housing affordability crisis.

Large crowds marched in Madrid calling for a general strike and affordable housing. In the eastern city of Valencia, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who broke through the security perimeter outside the City of Arts and Sciences, a futuristic complex by famed architect Santiago Calatrava, where a real estate summit was being held.

Images show altercations between police and protesters, with officers using batons to strike demonstrators, who threw barriers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Public outrage over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman has put Spain's progressive government under immense pressure to tackle the nation's entrenched housing cost crisis.

Around 1,000 protesters have spent the past week camped out in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, one of the capital’s most popular public spaces, after María del Carmen Abascal was evicted from her home of seven decades in downtown Madrid on Sept. 23. The protesters say they won't leave until the government takes real steps to protect tenants. A similar encampment has cropped up in Barcelona's Plaza Catalunya.

The government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who faces a national election next year, responded with emergency measures aimed at restricting evictions, curbing property speculation and giving renters indefinite leases, among other measures.

But conservative opposition parties joined forces to reject the ratification of the measures in parliament on Friday, angering protesters and even fueling rumors that Sánchez could consider an early election in hopes of rallying the left behind the housing issue.

Here is what to know about Spain's housing crisis and the political battle over how to address it.

The housing crunch has been simmering for years in Spain, eating into household budgets and angering voters. While many countries have similar circumstances, Spain’s poorest and its young are being particularly impacted, because they can’t afford to purchase a home and are being squeezed by the country's small stock of rental properties.

The average rent for Spain has almost doubled in the last 10 years. The price per square meter has risen from 8.20 euros (now $9.30) in 2016 to 15.10 euros ($17.15) this year, according to the real estate website Idealista.

Spain’s government said that 26% of Spaniards who rent housing spend an average of 40% of their income on rent and utilities, compared with the European Union average of 18% of renters who do so.

Spain ranks near the bottom of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for government-owned rental properties, which represent less than 2% of its available stock. The EU average is 8%.

Tens of thousands of people periodically march in major cities demanding action from lawmakers and blaming real estate speculators as well as tourist apartment platforms like Airbnb for rising rents.

But a new wave of indignation swept Spain when Abascal, who uses a wheelchair, was carried on a stretcher from her apartment after police cordoned off the street. Televised images of the eviction prompted thousands of people to protest in Madrid and other cities across the country.

“I haven’t managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others can learn to fight for what’s theirs,” Abascal said in a video recorded from a hospital bed after the eviction.

The Spanish real estate company which had insisted on evicting her in order to rent the property at a much higher price ended up reaching an agreement for her to return to the apartment, her lawyer said, adding that Abascal was “happy.” She has yet to be discharged from the hospital.

Even with a satisfying resolution for “Maricarmen,” as Abascal is now widely known, she remains the embodiment of the struggle against suffocating rental costs. Protesters have carried signs with slogans such as “Not even one more Maricarmen!” and demonstrations have been cropping up in cities across the country.

People demonstrate to demand stronger laws to protect renters in Madrid, Spain Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

People demonstrate to demand stronger laws to protect renters in Madrid, Spain Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. The banner reads in Spanish: "Looking for an apartment, selling a kidney". (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

People gather during a protest following the eviction last Wednesday of 87-year-old Maricarmen to demand stronger laws to protect renters at Sol square in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

People gather during a protest following the eviction last Wednesday of 87-year-old Maricarmen to demand stronger laws to protect renters at Sol square in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Maricarmen, 87, waits at home for police to arrive before being evicted from the home where she lived in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (Fernando Sánchez/Europa Press via AP)

Activists camp during a protest following the eviction last Wednesday of 87-year-old Maricarmen to demand stronger laws to protect renters at Sol square in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)