How and why the end of the government shutdown will affect Florida’s smoke shops

When President Donald Trump signed a spending bill Tuesday night to reopen the federal government, he also signed a broad ban on hemp products into law.

As Congress hurried to end the government shutdown, lawmakers OK’d a provision that prohibits the sale of hemp products with more than just trace levels of THC.

Supporters of the ban say it closes a loophole created in 2018 when lawmakers authorized the sale of hemp. They say that some hemp products now on the market act similarly to marijuana but don’t face the same regulation.

Hemp business and consumers, though, say a broad ban would eliminate access to many products that are not psychedelic and could decimate a billion-dollar market and thousands of jobs.

Florida businesses won’t begin to see effects of the law until it’s implemented next year. Opponents of the legislation have said they intend to work with Congress to change it.

The legislation also doesn’t mean products will automatically be yanked from the shelves. Here’s what to know about what the federal law means for Florida.

Will Florida businesses have to stop selling hemp products?

Not necessarily. The federal ban makes many hemp products illegal — but on a federal level. That doesn’t mean a state marketplace would automatically be eliminated, attorneys on both sides of the issue say.

Marijuana, for instance, is illegal on the federal level but still sold in states recreationally or medically.

Jonathan Miller, the general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, which opposed the law, said the legislation would essentially prohibit interstate hemp commerce.

Florida hemp products that violate the federal legislation would still be legal to sell in Florida, as long as the hemp was wholly grown, processed and distributed in Florida, Miller said. But that’s not usually the case, Miller said.

“It wouldn’t eliminate the market, but would put tremendous burden on them,” he said.

Miller said the legislation means that hemp businesses will also be subjected to 280E taxes, which prohibit marijuana companies from deducting business expenses.

Chris Lindsey, the vice president of policy and state advocacy at the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, has been supportive of the law change, saying it would make hemp legally equivalent to cannabis.

Lindsey has criticized hemp businesses opposing the legislation, saying that they’re selling “a drug that’s a knock-off” of marijuana products and claiming the products are the same, but refusing to be held to the same standards.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which has enforced hemp violations in Florida, declined to comment

What products does the bill target?

When Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill and legalized hemp, it required that products sold have no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC.

Delta-9 is what users typically think of as THC, the component that creates a high sensation. But there are other cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, and the legislation passed this week puts limits on more of them.

It instead prohibits any product with more than 0.4 milligrams of THC or more than 0.4 milligrams of any other cannabinoid with a similar effect to THC. Which cannabinoids are considered similar will be determined by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Supporters of the legislation argue that the bill goes after only intoxicating products.

But hemp businesses are concerned. Jammie Treadwell runs Treadwell Farms out of Central Florida and has been involved in the hemp marketplace since the state launched its hemp program in 2019.

Treadwell’s company focuses on CBD wellness products. She said the federal rules, which have a broad ban on THC, could affect her products even though they’re not intended to get people high.

Treadwell said to get to a THC level below 0.4 milligrams, her businesses would have to strip out naturally occurring compounds, which goes against their goal of having the least disrupted product possible.

“This would be forcing us to, in my opinion, overprocess and impact the quality and effectiveness of the product we make,” Treadwell said.

She said she’s also fearful about what other cannabinoids the Department of Health and Human Services may identify as akin to THC.

“All of us want the government shutdown to end, so it was an easy time to slide something in, and have people maybe not ask the right questions,” Treadwell said.

What does Florida’s hemp marketplace look like?

The Florida Legislature in 2024 tried to add significant regulations and restrictions on Florida’s hemp marketplace, including banning delta-8 and other cannabinoids. But Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed it.

In his veto letter, he said the bill would “impose debilitating regulatory burdens on small businesses.”

A study commissioned by a hemp trade group found that in 2022, Florida’s hemp market got more than $10 billion in sales and employed more than 100,000 people.

The veto came as a campaign to legalize recreational marijuana, which was heavily opposed by the governor, was picking up the pace. After DeSantis’ veto, members of the hemp industry donated money to the Republican Party of Florida, which was fighting the amendment. (The recreational marijuana campaign failed at the ballot box.)

Florida lawmakers in 2023 did pass a bill prohibiting hemp products from being “attractive to children,” meaning anything that resembles candy or other known brands is prohibited.

To be sold in Florida, a hemp product must have an independent testing lab certify that there aren’t contaminants or an unauthorized level of delta-9 THC.

A Herald/Times analysis from 2024 showed that, despite the law, stores around Florida are selling products that have THC levels akin to marijuana and that contain toxic pesticides.

This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 11:33 AM with the headline "How and why the end of the government shutdown will affect Florida’s smoke shops."