The hemp boom that rewrote America's cannabis laws is now unraveling

America’s hemp industry faces sweeping federal and state crackdowns that could wipe out most THC and CBD products and reshape the cannabis market

Valeria Mongelli / Bloomberg via Getty Images

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George Washington grew hemp at Mount Vernon. So did Thomas Jefferson. For the founders, it was an unremarkable agricultural staple, useful for rope, sailcloth and paper.

For a few years, it seemed like the modern American hemp industry was finding its way back to its roots. Farmers who once grew corn and soybeans were pivoting to the crop. The industry grew to an estimated $28 billion.

But this resurrected industry would likely baffle the founders. Hemp had become a cash crop again, but this time it sat at the center of the American drug war, with storefronts selling THC gummies and CBD tinctures spreading across states where marijuana remained illegal, and bars stocking hemp-derived drinks as an alternative to alcohol.

Now much of that is being unwound, fast.

Hemp had been illegal in the United States since 1970, lumped in with marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act despite being far........

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