By The Gazette Editorial Board | Commentary, The Gazette
First, it was Colorado’s majority-Democrat legislature that weighed whether to open the floodgates to dangerous, intoxicating hemp-based products. It would have compounded the damage inflicted on our kids by legalized pot. Fortunately, the lawmakers behind that reckless attempt couldn’t muster enough votes as the 2026 legislative session wound down last spring.
Now, a move is afoot in the Republican-controlled Congress to stall a much-needed federal crackdown on high-potency hemp that was enacted just last fall. At the behest of the Trump administration, a delay in implementing the crackdown was inserted into a stopgap government funding bill. The move has divided ruling Republicans, some of whom mounted an unsuccessful effort late last week to strip the delay from the bill.
The upshot will be to put off by a month the November implementation of the federal ban on most hemp-derived, high-potency products. More troubling still, the hemp-products lobby that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars massaging Congress into backing down is bragging it hopes to pivot the delay into a reversal of the ban in the guise of “regulation.”
Both of Colorado’s Democratic U.S. senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, voted with the Senate majority — and the Trump administration — to delay the ban. Disappointing, but not surprising.
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Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.