‘Clear as Mud’ Hemp Rules Targeted by Wisconsin Lawmakers
After Congress closed a hemp loophole, legislators float competing plans that could reshape THC products or shut many of them down entirely.
THC products are for sale Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, at Smoke World Vape in Beaver Dam, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Months after a new federal policy struck a blow to the national hemp industry, state lawmakers are considering a proposal to clarify the legality of the product in Wisconsin.
The bill would shore up how hemp-derived products — often found in the form of gummies, vapes or beverages — are, under state law, distinct from marijuana, which is illegal in Wisconsin.
That distinction has been around for some time, but the bill would tighten the definition, including qualifications for how hemp products can be extracted and tested. It would also set an age limit, so that buyers would have to be 21 or older, and limit how much of the psychoactive component THC can be in drinks.
In 2018, hemp-derived products became part of a legal gray zone, thanks to a loophole in the federal farm bill meant to encourage hemp farming. That led to a proliferation of businesses using hemp to create intoxicating products and distribute them, in a largely unregulated fashion, and even in states like Wisconsin that have formal bans of marijuana on the books.
Last year, that loophole was closed as a provision in Congress’ bill to end the federal shutdown. That sent the nascent industry scrambling to understand how to comply, and if it would even need to. Legal experts suggested that the move sent the question back to the states. And in places like Wisconsin, which had its own version of the hemp loophole, it raised the question of whether farmers and producers could simply risk continuing as usual.
Or, as Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, put it at a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Revenue on Thursday, it established a regulatory framework that is “clear as mud.”
“Regardless of anyone’s thoughts as it relates to cannabis and cannabinoids, it’s here,” said Testin, a lead author of the bipartisan proposal. “We just want to make sure that we have sensible regulations put in place that isn’t … heavy-handed, and does not put the boot of government on the backs of these very businesses that have sprung up and have thrived here in the state in the last several years.”
A series of advocates for the hemp industry — including hemp farmers and makers of THC products — spoke at the hearing, describing the economic benefits of maintaining their industry while putting consumer protection requirements in place.
“Without clear enforcement, without standards, the safest companies like ourselves are punished and bad players are rewarded,” said Nick Warrender, CEO of Lifted Made, a Wisconsin-based company that produces and distributes hemp-derived products nationwide.
Phillip Scott, a hemp farmer and advocate with the Wisconsin Hemp Farmers and Manufacturers Association, said that improved clarity is important for farmers, who have to plan what they plant years in advance.
“For too long, hemp farmers in Wisconsin have been forced to operate in uncertainty, never fully sure whether the crop we plant today will still be considered legal by the time we harvest it,” he said.
The bill is cosponsored by several Democrats, who spoke favorably about the effort at Thursday’s committee hearing.
“I haven’t felt so aligned with two Republicans in a while,” said Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit.
And it’s not the only legislation floating around the Capitol aimed at regulating hemp. Democrats have introduced a standalone bill to impose an age limit on hemp products. Some Republicans also introduced a bill that mirrors the federal ban — essentially closing Wisconsin’s version of the hemp loophole, making most hemp-derived products as illegal as other forms of marijuana.
A different GOP bill would establish a three-tier system for regulating hemp-derived products, similar to how alcohol is regulated. That proposal would distinguish producers, distributors and retailers, requiring different licensing across the supply chain.
Testin, who chairs the Senate’s agriculture committee, described the three-tier proposal as “deader than dead.” He argued that it establishes an overly burdensome process that would put many smaller producers out of business if they couldn’t sell directly to consumers.
But that bill has advanced in the Assembly, passing out of a committee in November. By contrast, the Testin bill has only seen a Senate committee hearing. So it’s not clear whether there’s enough consolidated Republican support for either proposal to make it through a full vote in the Republican-led Legislature before lawmakers adjourn in a few months.
Wisconsin lawmakers consider changes to hemp policy that’s ‘clear as mud’ was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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