(NewsNation) — Former NFL player Kyle Turley blasted the Trump administration over a last-minute hemp ban tucked into Thursday night’s government funding bill, calling the move a “betrayal.”
The Senate-passed legislation included a provision that would recriminalize many hemp-derived products legalized under the 2018 federal farm bill.
According to a Senate Appropriations Committee summary, the provision “prevents 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.”
Turley, now a prominent cannabis advocate, argues the bill’s language doesn’t just target “bad actors selling unsafe products,” but includes “safe, regulated, non-intoxicating” hemp items that millions rely on and that sustain small businesses nationwide.
“Overnight, this legislation threatens to destroy what we’ve built in good faith under the 2018 Farm Bill — an industry that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs, revitalized rural communities, and offered safer alternatives to pharmaceuticals and alcohol,” Truley said in a statement to NewsNation.
Hemp industry projected to reach $30B by 2030
Turley added that industry leaders have long asked lawmakers for clear rules that “protect consumers and support responsible operators.”
“Instead, they’ve decided to criminalize the good along with the bad,” he said. “This isn’t about safety — it’s about politics, power and profit. The hemp industry was promised opportunity and fairness; instead, we’ve been handed extinction.”
The hemp industry is scrambling to stave off what representatives have said could be an extinction-level event for an industry expected to be worth an estimated $30 billion by 2030.
Speaking outside the gated press entrance of the White House on Thursday, Turley said he’s pushing for a meeting with officials, arguing the ban jeopardizes 400,000 American jobs while still allowing imports from China.
‘Hemp products helped me’: Kyle Turley
Turley, who played in the NFL for nine seasons, said hemp played a transformative role in his own recovery from the physical toll of professional football.
“When I discovered hemp, it gave me a second chance, not just at health, but at purpose,” he said. “Hemp products helped me step away from addictive opioids and reclaim control over my body and mind. They’ve done the same for countless veterans, first responders and everyday Americans seeking natural, plant-based relief.”
Turley, co-founder of Project Champion, said his organization won’t stand by while the government “destroys an entire sector that has proven its value to American farmers.”
“Hemp has been part of this country’s history for centuries,” he said. “It deserves to be part of its future.”
The 2018 farm bill legalized the sale of hemp-derived THC products that contain less than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight. A product containing THC in quantities beyond that threshold would be considered marijuana. The new language would ban “any intermediate hemp-derived cannabinoid products.”
Trump should be ‘championing’ hemp
Speaking to “On Balance” on Friday, Turley suggested President Trump should be backing the industry, given his entrepreneurial spirit.
“President Trump should be championing [it]. This is a $30 billion industry, as you said. How many other industries has Trump created?” Turley said.
Turley estimated 400,000 jobs would be destroyed and hemp farms would be redundant.
“There’s not one strain of cannabis hemp or otherwise that is ever going to test compliant under these new standards, period. So you’re talking about your grandma’s salve that she uses for her arthritic knee. She’s a felon, too, on top of that,” Turley claimed.
Turley attributed a dip in GOP support for the legalization of marijuana due to “a lot of misinformation.
“At the end of the day, that’s what happened before, and that’s happening even more so now,” he added. Turley also suggested if the Senate “wants the cartels to come back,” they should pass the bill.
NewsNation’s Hena Doba and Patrick Djordjevic contributed to this report.