The federal hemp ban gets covered as if it were a single event happening on a single date. The reality runs longer. More than twenty dated milestones stretch from the November 12, 2025 signing through Q1 2027 enforcement guidance, and the difference between an operator who has time to liquidate and an operator sitting on inventory they can no longer legally sell is which milestone they were watching.

The calendar got busier over the summer, and on September 2 it finally moved. President Trump signed H.R. 6500, whose Section 2019 pushes most of the hemp deadline to December 11, 2026 while leaving the exclusion of non-natural cannabinoids on November 12. The ban remains contested in state courts (Texas and Ohio, with whiplash rulings in both) and in two House bills that would replace Section 781 outright, but the operative federal dates are now set in signed law: November 12 for cannabinoids the plant cannot naturally produce, December 11 for everything else.

This page is the calendar. It is the editorial sibling to our hemp ban explainer, which covers what the ban does and who it affects. This page covers when. We will keep it current, with a visible last-updated stamp, until the ban takes effect and beyond.

What is the federal hemp ban and when does it take effect?

The federal hemp ban is Section 781 of H.R. 5371, signed into law on November 12, 2025 as part of the appropriations vehicle. It caps THC at 0.4mg per container, redefines hemp using a total-THC standard, and removes synthetic cannabinoids. The effective dates split under the H.R. 6500 delay signed September 2, 2026: cannabinoids that cannot be naturally produced by the plant lose hemp status November 12, 2026, and the 0.4mg cap, the total-THC standard, and the exclusion for cannabinoids synthesized outside the plant take effect December 11, 2026. After the relevant date, products exceeding the thresholds are treated as Schedule I marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.

The 0.4mg-per-container threshold is the rule that does most of the work. The previous standard measured delta-9 THC by dry weight (0.3% by weight, the original 2018 Farm Bill standard), which is what created the entire hemp-derived edibles category in the first place. A hemp gummy could be 25 milligrams of delta-9 THC and still test under 0.3% by weight because the gummy itself was heavy. The new standard counts total THC after decarboxylation per container, not per weight, which closes the loophole completely.

Synthetic and converted cannabinoids like delta-8 THC, HHC, THC-O, and THCP are removed from the hemp definition regardless of dose. These were already in legal grey zones in most states. The federal ban makes the question moot. Under the signed delay, the timing depends on how the cannabinoid gets made: substances the plant cannot naturally produce at all, like THC-O, lose hemp status November 12, while naturally occurring cannabinoids manufactured outside the plant, which is how nearly all commercial delta-8 is made, wait for December 11 with the rest of the definition.

What has already happened on the hemp ban calendar?

Twenty-three dated milestones have landed since the November 12, 2025 signing: a missed FDA deadline in February, Texas rules that took effect in March and have been enjoined, reinstated, and federally challenged since, Ohio federal injunctions in July and September, two replacement bills in Congress, the delay of most of the ban, passed by the Senate August 8, adopted by the House September 1, and signed September 2, and a D.C. Circuit refusal on September 9 to freeze the medical marijuana rescheduling order. Each date, with what it changed:

  1. November 12, 2025. Hemp ban provisions signed into law as part of the appropriations vehicle. The 365-day countdown begins. Source: H.R. 5371 full text on Congress.gov; Saul Ewing client alert (December 2025).
  2. December 2025. Senators Wyden and Merkley introduce the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act (S. 3474), the first proposal to replace the ban with a regulated system. It has not moved out of committee since.
  3. February 10, 2026. The statutory deadline for FDA to publish its three cannabinoid lists, which sort permitted naturally occurring cannabinoids from THC-class and intoxicating-marketed ones. The deadline passed with nothing published, and the lists remain unpublished as of this update. More on what that absence means below.
  4. March 31, 2026. Texas DSHS consumable hemp rules take effect, imposing a total-THC standard at the state level ahead of the federal date and raising retailer fees from $150 to $5,000 per location.
  5. April 8 to 10, 2026. The Texas Hemp Business Council and industry co-plaintiffs sue in Travis County District Court; a temporary restraining order against the DSHS rules takes effect April 10.
  6. April 30, 2026. The House passes the 2026 Farm Bill (H.R. 7567) 224 to 200 with no relief for consumable hemp. A delay amendment was ruled not germane before the floor vote.
  7. May 1, 2026. Two Texas rulings in one day. Travis County Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle grants a statewide temporary injunction blocking the DSHS total-THC standard, the fee increases, and per-day penalty stacking. The Texas Supreme Court rules in Sky Marketing (the Hometown Hero case) that DSHS has broad authority to schedule substances, letting a 2021 delta-8 classification stand.
  8. June 8, 2026. The Fifteenth Court of Appeals lifts the May 1 injunction. DSHS total-THC rules are back in effect statewide.
  9. July 10, 2026. The reinstated DSHS rules are published in the Texas Register, formalizing the June appellate order at the agency level.
  10. July 13, 2026. A federal judge in Ohio grants a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the state's intoxicating hemp ban (SB 56) against ten hemp beverage companies, ruling the law conflicts with the federal hemp definition. The state moves for a stay the next day. Relief is plaintiff-specific, and the federal definition it rests on expires November 12.
  11. July 22, 2026. Representatives Andy Barr and Angie Craig introduce H.R. 9830, the Lawful Hemp Protection Act, the most comprehensive House proposal to replace Section 781 with a permanent regulatory structure rather than delay it. Source: H.R. 9830 on Congress.gov.
  12. July 27, 2026. The Travis County merits trial, set for this date, is vacated pending the State's interlocutory appeal at the Fifteenth Court of Appeals. The DSHS rules stay enforceable while the appeal runs.
  13. July 31, 2026. Texas begins enforcing its 2021 controlled-substances scheduling of delta-8 and other non-delta-9 THC variants, the classification the Supreme Court upheld on May 1. Austin police state they will treat delta-8 possession as a state jail felony. Hemp-derived delta-9 edibles remain legal in Texas.
  14. August 1, 2026. Two hemp retailers and a distributor file a federal suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against DSHS, Attorney General Paxton, and Galveston County officials, arguing the state's delta-8 scheduling conflicts with the 2018 Farm Bill. It is the first federal-court challenge to the Texas classification, running parallel to the state case.
  15. August 2, 2026. The Senate Appropriations Committee releases draft continuing resolution text containing Section 2019, titled "Section 781 Extension," which would confine the ban to non-natural cannabinoids until December 11. Why the four-week reprieve is smaller than it looks.
  16. August 3, 2026. The Office of Management and Budget issues a Statement of Administration Policy supporting the Senate amendment to H.R. 6500, with the President's senior advisers recommending he sign the bill in its current form. The White House is on record for the delay before the vote.
  17. August 6, 2026. The Senate Agriculture Committee votes 11 to 10 against advancing the 2026 Farm Bill, closing the near-term path to a permanent hemp fix outside the spending bill.
  18. August 8, 2026. The Senate passes H.R. 6500, 90 to 6, carrying Section 2019. Budd Amendment 6747, which would have stripped the delay, is tabled 61 to 32. Full coverage of the vote and what the House did next.
  19. September 1, 2026. The House passes the Senate's H.R. 6500 text, 370 to 48, under suspension of the rules, which barred amendments. Rep. Andy Harris, the author of Section 781, led the objections and lost. The bill goes to the President.
  20. September 2, 2026. President Trump signs H.R. 6500. The Section 2019 delay is law: most of Section 781 now takes effect December 11, 2026, while the exclusion of non-natural cannabinoids stays on November 12. Full coverage of the signing and the split dates.
  21. September 4, 2026. Judge Jeffrey Helmick issues a second preliminary injunction against Ohio's SB 56 in Delta Beverages v. Canepa, converting his August 7 restraining order. Fourteen more companies, including the Fifty West, Rhinegeist, Great Lakes, and Seventh Son breweries, can sell federally compliant hemp products while the case runs. Two federal injunctions now cover 24 named companies. Everyone else stays under the ban.
  22. September 6, 2026. A Travis County court denies the SS Distro plaintiffs' temporary restraining order against DSHS's undefined "trace amount" standard and sets a temporary injunction hearing for October 30. Texas enforcement of the July 31 delta-8 and THCA scheduling continues in the meantime.
  23. September 9, 2026. The D.C. Circuit denies the motion to stay the April 28 marijuana rescheduling order, leaving state-licensed medical marijuana and FDA-approved marijuana products in Schedule III while the consolidated challenges proceed. Briefing format proposals are due within 30 days. The hemp dates do not move: products over the 0.4mg cap still land in Schedule I on November 12 or December 11, since the order covers only the licensed medical category. Full coverage of the stay denial.

Did Congress delay the hemp ban to December 11?

Yes, for most of it, and it is now law. Section 2019 of H.R. 6500, signed September 2, 2026, holds Section 781's total-THC definition and 0.4mg container cap until December 11, 2026, along with the exclusion for naturally occurring cannabinoids manufactured outside the plant. The only piece that keeps the original November 12 date is the exclusion of cannabinoids the plant cannot naturally produce at all.

The scope line matters more than the vote count. What the delay covers is broad: hemp-derived delta-9 edibles, full-spectrum CBD, THCA flower, and converted cannabinoids like CBD-derived delta-8, which fall under the outside-plant-synthesis exclusion that now waits for December 11. What it excludes is narrow but real: THC-O and other cannabinoids that cannot occur in the plant lose hemp status on November 12 regardless. Four extra weeks for most of the market, zero for the pure lab inventions.

The procedural fight resolved faster than we expected. The House had passed its own funding bill through December 4 with no hemp language, but suspension of the rules barred amendments when the Senate text came to the floor on September 1, and the two-thirds vote (370 to 48) sent the bill straight to the President. December 11 is now the date we plan around sitewide for naturally derived products, with November 12 still governing the non-natural exclusion, and every entry on this page assumes that split.

What dates are still ahead between now and December 11?

Four live dates remain: the sell-through window running now, the November 12 effective date for non-natural cannabinoids, the December 11 main effective date (which doubles as the new government funding deadline), and Q1 2027 enforcement guidance.

  1. Q3 and Q4 2026 (underway). Aggressive sell-through. Hemp retailers liquidate inventory at deep discounts to clear shelves before the federal effective date, with the signed delay adding four weeks to the tail. Convenience-store and gas-station hemp gummy prices fall to roughly 30 to 50 percent of 2025 levels. This is the cheapest the category will ever be, and the riskiest, since COA quality slips as operators rush product out.
  2. October 30, 2026. A temporary injunction hearing is set for October 30 in Travis County district court in SS Distro v. DSHS, the case over the "trace amount" standard. The first chance for a Texas court to reach the merits of the post-July enforcement standard.
  3. November 12, 2026. The exclusion of cannabinoids that cannot be naturally produced by the cannabis plant takes effect. THC-O and similar lab-only cannabinoids lose hemp status. Everything else in Section 781 stays dormant for 29 more days under Section 2019. Source: CRS Insight IN12620.
  4. December 11, 2026. The main effective date, now signed law. Products containing more than 0.4mg total THC per container, products failing the total-THC standard, and naturally occurring cannabinoids manufactured outside the plant (commercial delta-8 included) become illegal under the Controlled Substances Act. The same day is the new government funding deadline, so the December appropriations fight and the hemp deadline resolve together.
  5. Q1 2027 (projected). Enforcement guidance from DEA and DOJ on inventory disposition. State licensure migrations, where hemp operators apply for state-licensed marijuana licenses, accelerate where state programs allow it.

After December 11, any inventory still in commerce that exceeds the thresholds is treated as Schedule I marijuana for federal purposes (November 12 for the non-natural cannabinoids). There is no federal sell-through safe harbor. State-level safe harbors vary.

How does the 0.4mg threshold work in practice?

0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, where total THC means delta-9 plus THCA after decarboxylation. Most current hemp gummies on shelves contain 5mg, 10mg, or 25mg per piece. All three categories are well above the new ceiling. A 10-piece pack of 25mg gummies contains 250mg total THC, over the limit by a factor of 625.

The cap covers the whole package, not per serving. A 20-count jar has 0.4mg total to distribute across every gummy in it, roughly 1/12th of a single standard dispensary dose spread across the full container.

CBD products with trace delta-9 (the under 0.3% by weight standard, which still applies to the agricultural definition of hemp) sometimes clear the container threshold and sometimes do not. Isolate-based tinctures and gummies generally pass. Full-spectrum products generally fail, because trace THC across a full container adds up past 0.4mg. THCA flower at standard potency (15 to 25 percent THCA by weight) does not survive, since heating produces well over 0.4mg per gram of delta-9 equivalent. The smokable THCA flower category is functionally banned.

Where is the FDA's cannabinoid list?

Nowhere. Section 781 gave FDA 90 days from enactment to publish lists sorting cannabinoids into permitted naturally occurring, THC-similar, and intoxicating-marketed categories, plus a final definition of "container." That deadline fell on February 10, 2026. Six months past it, nothing has been published, and producers are reformulating against a statute with no implementing detail.

The absence is the story. The three buckets decide which minor-cannabinoid products survive past the effective date: whether natural CBN sleep gummies land with permitted CBD and CBG or with the banned synthetics, whether a converted CBN counts as non-natural, where a novel cannabinoid marketed as a THC alternative falls. A CBD brand deciding in August whether its full-spectrum line can be reformulated to compliance has to guess at all of it. The statute's plain text still does the heavy work (the 0.4mg cap and the non-natural exclusion bind regardless), but the boundary cases sit unresolved with three months to go.

Earlier versions of this page treated the February list as published and reported bucket assignments for CBN, CBG, and CBC. That was wrong, and we have corrected it: FDA has missed the deadline and the lists remain unpublished as of August 12, 2026. When they land, this section gets the details.

Which states moved faster than the federal date?

Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Wyoming, and Ohio all acted against intoxicating hemp at the state level ahead of the federal effective dates, with Texas and Ohio now in active litigation over it. California routed intoxicating hemp into its licensed dispensaries on January 1, 2026 under AB 8. Most legal-marijuana states either match the federal schedule or already addressed the supply through state licensing.

The federal hemp ban sets a national floor. Several states moved earlier and are operating under stricter or earlier-effective state law, and the operators getting hurt earliest are in the states that moved first.

Texas is the state to watch, and the summer was whiplash. The DSHS total-THC rules took effect March 31, were enjoined statewide May 1, and came back June 8 when the Fifteenth Court of Appeals lifted the injunction, a reinstatement formalized in the Texas Register on July 10. The July 27 merits trial was vacated as the case moved up on appeal, so the rules are enforceable with no trial date on the calendar and the industry's appellate brief filed August 14. On top of that, the state started enforcing its 2021 delta-8 scheduling on July 31, with Austin police calling possession a state jail felony, and a new federal suit in the Southern District of Texas is challenging that classification under the 2018 Farm Bill. A Texas retailer restocked THCA flower in May under an injunction and cleared the same shelf in July under the same rules. That is the cost of a calendar that moves this fast.

Ohio's SB 56 stands, with carve-outs. The referendum campaign against it died in March, county courts blocked enforcement for a handful of plaintiffs in April, and on July 13 a federal judge enjoined enforcement against ten hemp beverage companies on the ground that the law conflicts with the federal hemp definition. The state has moved for a stay. Every piece of relief so far is plaintiff-specific, and the federal definition the injunction rests on now survives in most respects only through December 10 under the signed delay, which limits its shelf life.

North Carolina punted. House Bill 328, the state's hemp regulation bill, was pushed to the November session on August 4, which leaves the state's hemp market running on the federal calendar alone through the effective date.

Michigan banned intoxicating hemp at retail in 2024, well ahead of the federal schedule. Michigan's CRA-licensed dispensaries are the only legal channel for THC products in the state, and have been since the 2024 enforcement. The federal date is a non-event for Michigan consumers.

Tennessee banned intoxicating hemp under HB 1376, with rules taking effect in mid-2026, ahead of the federal schedule. Virginia's SB 903 and HB 2294 took effect in 2024 with later amendments, and Virginia's intoxicating hemp products are functionally already off shelves. Wyoming passed HB 0193 in 2025, taking effect in 2026. California has no separate state-level intoxicating hemp ban; AB-45 governs hemp at the state level and the December 2026 federal date will govern the convenience-store hemp category there. Dispensary cannabis is unaffected.

What does the hemp ban mean for state-licensed dispensary shoppers?

Almost nothing. State-legal marijuana programs are not affected by the federal hemp ban because they were already federally illegal under the Controlled Substances Act. Dispensary brands like Kiva, Wyld, and Papa & Barkley continue unchanged. The only practical change is consolidation pressure on brands operating in both channels.

The Cole and Garland memo enforcement priorities continue to govern. If you buy at a state-licensed dispensary, your access to Kiva, Wyld, Papa & Barkley, and the rest of the dispensary aisle continues unchanged.

The only practical change for dispensary shoppers is consolidation. Brands like Wyld and Cycling Frog operate in both the hemp-derived and state-licensed channels. After December 11 those brands will likely consolidate around their state-licensed product lines. Expect brand SKUs to rationalize, not disappear, and expect the prices on the surviving SKUs to drift up as the alternative low-cost hemp channel goes away. The competitive floor was the gas-station gummy at $20 for 100mg total. That floor is being removed.

What dates will get updated as we learn more?

Six trackers: the December 11 appropriations fight that now shares a date with the hemp deadline, the FDA's overdue cannabinoid lists, the Texas appeals and the parallel federal case, Ohio's stay motion, state sell-through windows, and post-ban DEA enforcement posture. Each development gets a dated entry above.

This page is a living document. What we are watching between now and December:

  • The December funding fight. December 11 is both the hemp effective date and the new government funding deadline, and any further hemp language will ride whatever bill resolves it.
  • FDA cannabinoid lists. Overdue since February 10. Publication at any point before the effective dates reshuffles the minor-cannabinoid analysis on this page.
  • Texas, three times over. The Fifteenth Court of Appeals ruling on the THBC injunction, the federal case in the Southern District of Texas challenging the delta-8 scheduling, and the October 30 temporary injunction hearing in Travis County district court in the SS Distro trace-amount case.
  • Ohio's stay motion. If the state wins its stay of the July 13 injunction, that order stops protecting its ten plaintiffs, and the September 4 injunction covering fourteen more companies would face the same motion next.
  • State sell-through windows. Several states are debating whether to grant a 30 or 60 day post-ban grace period for retailers to dispose of inventory. We will track each.
  • Brand exits and pivots. Each major hemp brand we cover will get a one-line update on this page when they announce their post-ban plan.

If you spot a state-level move, an FDA update, or a brand announcement that should be on this page, send it to hello@ediblerank.com. The point of this page is to be right, not to be early. Tips welcome.