On less than an acre of farmland in Hopkinton, rows of hemp plants were nearing harvest. Most of their “colas” — dense clusters of buds prized for smokable flower — had already been cut ahead of a nor’easter bound for southern New England on the last weekend of September.
The rest will be harvested in the next couple of weeks and turned into concentrate, destined to become products such as tinctures, 1-milligram THC gummies and 5-milligram THC lemonades, which Lovewell Farms launched earlier in September.
“We’ve leaned into the cans and beverages because the state regulations allow that,” Mike Simpson, co-founder of Lovewell Farms, said in an interview standing next to the hemp plants, joint in hand. “And we’re making hand over fist doing that.”
Rhode Island’s regulated hemp market generated $2.85 million in sales in 2025, according to data provided by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission. Drinks and seltzers infused with THC — the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant that can cause impairment— accounted for $2.36 million, or about 83% of the total. The state had 201 licensed hemp businesses as of Oct. 1, including 169 retailers.
But the market Simpson joined could soon be upended by a federal restriction that Rhode Island regulators say they must enforce. Starting Dec. 11, federal law will prohibit the sale of hemp-derived cannabinoid products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container.
Existing regulations adopted by the Cannabis Control Commission in 2025 have allowed all products to contain up to 1 milligrams of total THC per serving, or 5 milligrams of total THC per package.
A Sept. 11 bulletin from the Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission warns any product over the new limit will be considered noncompliant and subject to administrative penalties “including but not limited to monetary fines.”
“Licensees are strongly encouraged to review their current inventory, assess their products against the new federal limit, and begin planning for the December 11 deadline,” the commission advised in an accompanying email.
Existing regulations adopted by the Cannabis Control Commission in 2025 allow all products to contain up to 1 milligrams of total THC per serving, or 5 milligrams of total THC per package.
For Simpson, the commission’s guidance raises questions about what happens to the pallets of lemonade cans stored in a dark room on the farm, ready to ship to Rhode Island liquor stores, which have been licensed to sell hemp-derived beverages for the past two years.
“The idea that we would just kind of throw all that out without even engaging in a deeper conversation with the community or the industry is wild,” he said.
Mariana Ormonde, chief legal counsel for the commission, said she understands the difficult position the state’s hemp licensees are in. But the state’s hands are tied when it comes to changes made at the federal level.
“The reality of the situation is we can’t treat hemp like cannabis because it’s not cannabis,” Ormonde said in an interview.
Lessons in chemistry
Hemp became legal at the federal level after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, allowing products with a THC concentration of 0.3% or lower by dry weight. The law was meant to allow an agricultural market for hemp-based textiles, animal feeds and human wellness products centered on CBD products.
But that original definition in the 2018 law did not account for ways to convert the plant to produce higher potency, paving the way for the proliferation of hemp-derived THC products like infused drinks — products which states have since scrambled to either regulate or ban.
“That’s kind of what opened up Pandora’s box,” Ormonde said.
Rhode Island’s hemp rules were formally adopted by the Cannabis Control Commission in 2025 — just months before Congress moved to close the potency loophole created by the 2018 Farm Bill as part of legislation to reopen the federal government after last year’s shutdown.
By itself, hemp produces little to no THC, the compound most commonly associated with cannabis intoxication. But that can change as the plant matures, explained Ryan Plante, Lovewell Farms’ director of cultivation.
“At 30 days of a harvest, it has almost non-detectable cannabinoids in most regards,” said Plante, who studied horticulture at the University of Rhode Island. “And then afterwards, it is common for hemp to get up to 0.5 milligrams, or 0.5 % to 1% of THC in that flower.”
Hemp’s THC potency can also be increased by chemistry. Methods include extracting cannabinoids from the plant and converting them into compounds such as delta-8 or delta-9 THC.
THC drinks derived from hemp were illegal in Rhode Island until August 2024, when the state’s former Office of Cannabis Regulation began allowing the sale of products containing low levels of delta-9 THC at licensed retailers including vape shops, liquor stores, and some bars.
The new federal definition was originally set to take effect Nov. 12, but Congress pushed the effective date back one month as part of a short-term government funding bill signed by President Donald Trump in September.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) was among the 90 senators who voted for the one-month delay in August.
Ben Craig, a spokesperson for Reed’s office, said Rhode Island’s senior senator supported delaying what he called a nationwide hemp ban to give lawmakers more time to develop “balanced regulations” for hemp-infused products.
“He also wants to ensure responsible Rhode Island hemp businesses are not unfairly, adversely impacted by federal regulations,” Craig wrote in an email to Rhode Island Current.
But Reed has also shared concerns raised by attorneys general from 39 states, including Rhode Island AG Peter Neronha, who last year sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to tighten the federal definition of hemp.
Neronha signed onto another multistate letter in August urging Congress to reject efforts to “delay, repeal, suspend, or weaken” the federal hemp restrictions enacted last year.
Simpson criticized the AG’s push for tighter restrictions, saying he has seen no evidence that hemp-derived products have increased youth access in Rhode Island.
“Give me the evidence in the state of Rhode Island where we have increased youth access to cannabis,” Simpson said. “Show me the data that shows that, and then I will agree and believe you.”
Timothy Rondeau, a spokesperson for Neronha’s office, said the 2025 letter sought to close a loophole in the federal definition of hemp that allowed intoxicating cannabinoid products to be sold legally.
“The letter asserts that potentially harmful substances like this should be regulated, and where the regulation is patchwork across the country, federal regulation is best,” Rondeau wrote in an email to Rhode Island Current.
Why is the cannabis market different?
Simpson sees a double standard in the Cannabis Control Commission’s decision to enforce the federal restrictions on hemp while continuing to allow the sale of recreational cannabis, which was never legalized under federal law.
“Why this, but not cannabis?” he asked.
Ormonde said the difference is that the federal government has imposed a new restriction on hemp that the state cannot simply disregard.
“Federal law is the supreme law of the land,” she said.
She said Rhode Island can regulate cannabis under state law because the state has chosen to do so, even though cannabis remains illegal under federal law. But with hemp, she said, the state is operating within a federal framework that Congress has now changed.
Keeping the hemp market would also pose challenges to the liquor retailers who have carried the drinks.
Nick Fede Jr., president of the American Beverage Licensees, said the changes could make it harder for retailers to process payments for hemp products because banks would no longer allow credit card sales — as is the case with regulated cannabis sales at Rhode Island’s retail pot shops.
“If it’s not federally recognized, they don’t want to touch that money,” said Fede, whose family owns Kingstown Liquor Mart in North Kingstown, which has a valid hemp retail license through March 2027.
Charon Rose, spokesperson for the Cannabis Control Commission, said her understanding is that the Trump administration is considering a new framework for hemp, but that the details remain unclear.
That uncertainty is one reason Ormonde said the commission is trying to avoid telling businesses to outright shut down before the federal deadline.
“We kind of have to wait and see what the federal government does before we can sort of act and advise our licensees in accordance with that,” Ormonde said.
In the meantime, Rose said regulators plan to revise its Sept.11 bulletin and issue updated guidance to licensees “in the coming days.”
Still, the ongoing uncertainty has made it harder for hemp businesses like Lovewell farms to plan for next year.
Simpson typically buys its 1,500 seeds from Oregon in February, ahead of the growing season. Seth Crawford, co-owner of Oregon CBD Seeds, told the Oregon Capital Chronicle he still expects to sell seeds to anyone who wants them, but anticipates demand will fall if the new federal rules reduce the market for industrial hemp processing.
“It’s very hard to run a business when you want to do investments in equipment and inventory when the regulations are changing,” Simpson said.
This article was reprinted from the Rhode Island Current under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You can read the original version here.
