“If the loophole persists, that trust erodes. Not because the hemp farmers are bad people. But because a system that applies rigorous standards to one channel and none to another will eventually produce a failure that damages everyone.”
By Jason Leisey, Emerald Tea Supply Co.
I spent years in institutional finance trading macro derivatives before I built a licensed cannabis dispensary in New Jersey. I understand how regulatory arbitrage works—how a legal category distinction, rather than any meaningful difference in the underlying asset, can create a two-tier market where one side bears all the cost and the other captures all the margin. That is exactly what the hemp loophole in federal and state laws has produced.
A recent Marijuana Moment op-ed authored by hemp farmer John Grady, eloquent as it is, argues for keeping it that way.
Let me be clear about where I stand: I am not anti-hemp. I am not lobbying for marijuana to win a market war. I am pro-regulation of THC—full stop—regardless of which plant it came from. That distinction is the foundation of everything that follows.
First: Hemp And Cannabis Are The Same Plant
Before we can talk policy, we need to talk biology—because the
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