Proposed hemp ban tucked into federal funding bill could stall end to gov't shutdown

WASHINGTON — What are they smoking?

A proposed hemp ban that threatens to end the sale of scores of popular THC gummies, vapes and even beverages is tucked into a government-funding bill — and could stall lawmakers’ efforts to end the longest-ever shutdown in US history.

The Senate will be voting on a full-year funding measure as part of its deal to end the shutdown — and the plan would also prohibit the unregulated sale of “intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores, while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products.”

That would do away with the sale of scores of wildly popular THC products — as well as hundreds of thousands of jobs that make up a $28 billion industry, opponents of