COLLEEN LANIER
Annie Rouse
Since the 2018 Farm Bill’s passage that legalized industrial hemp, the industry has grown into a multi-billion-dollar sector employing more than 300,000 Americans and about 3,500 Kentuckians. That growth is now at risk because of a provision tucked into a November bill that reopened the federal government from its record shutdown. The measure, supported by outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell, who helped secure hemp’s inclusion in the 2018 Farm Bill, would place new limits on hemp-derived THC and CBD products.
The bill’s language effectively bans most hemp-derived THC and CBD items such as gummies and drinks that have more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container, which includes almost all cannabinoid products. It would also make farming more difficult and manufacturing for such products practically illegal.
The potential fallout has raised concerns among many in the hemp industry, including Annie Rouse, a longtime advocate who opened Cannabuzz, a Lexington-based cannabis microdistillery (aka a Cannabuzzery) serving THC- and CBD-infused products, in 2023.
Rouse began working in the field while studying economics at the University of Kentucky in 2009. She later studied in Canada on a Fulbright Scholarship, where she evaluated hemp supply chains. After returning to Kentucky in the mid-2010s, she contracted Lyme disease and found relief from some symptoms through CBD, which helped motivate her to launch the business that became Cannabuzz.
“Hemp and cannabis have such a rich history in our community — they’re right there alongside horses and bourbon,” she said, citing the crop’s early economic role in Lexington. “The potential is here to continue growing it to further help farmers, the economy and people’s health.
With less than a year until the new hemp rules go into effect on Nov. 12, 2026, Business Lexington spoke with Rouse about the changes, what advocates are doing to find a middle ground, and the potential impact on producers, farmers and consumers.
What was your initial reaction upon discovering these new hemp provisions in the bill to reopen the government?
The 2018 Farm Bill contained broad language, and cleanup needed to happen. Some products allowed on store shelves have no business being there. Many of those products differ significantly from what we’re doing at Cannabuzz. Everything we use is plant-derived. We’re not artificially creating something that’s not found in the plant.
A lot of artificial cannabinoids are manufactured using chemistry and lack independent safety studies. We don’t know many of their effects. Because of issues like that, I expected reform, but I did not expect such a broad restriction on naturally derived cannabinoids.
What are some suggestions you have for taking a better approach or reaching a compromise?
I thought it was damaging and a rush to put that language in an appropriations bill. If that’s the route, then appropriate money to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to study how to properly regulate hemp or appropriate money to states to build regulatory frameworks. Right now, it feels like everything we’ve built over the past seven years is being threatened. People assume this only affects the THC market, but it’s more expansive. Consumers rely on these products for a range of uses, including sleep and relief — even managing lyme disease symptoms, like with me.
Kentucky has been leading the way on regulatory foundations and it’s working. Cannabuzz is regulated by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Cabinet for Health & Family Services and Alcoholic Beverage Control. We are licensed through each of these bodies. We have child-proof packaging, proper warnings, age-gate and conduct third-party lab testing, all of which is required to sell in the program. The Federal Government should recognize this leadership and stand behind Kentucky’s progress. In terms of in-state, banning artificial cannabinoids and streamlining licensing so we pay one fee instead of three would help too — something like a Cannabis Control Board adjacent to the ABC. The existing tax framework for infused beverages could also be applied to edibles and other products, with revenue directed toward research, including at the Cannabis Center at UK. There’s a lot of opportunity in progressing research of this plant.
Outside of yourself, how do you foresee this language affecting farmers and other parts of the hemp business?
People on the grain and fiber side often want to be separate from the cannabinoid side, but in reality fiber production needs cannabinoids to scale and compete with petrochemical products. Hemp has also offered new opportunities for struggling farmers. With thin margins, rising input costs and market pressure from tariffs, farmers can feel stuck in an unsustainable system. We should be rewarding the people who produce our food, not adding more stress by removing a crop that many say helps them maintain financial stability and has drawn younger people into agriculture.
What are your next steps for responding to these new hemp rules?
When the state passed SB 202 earlier this year, which limited cannabinoid milligram caps in infused beverages, the industry was caught off guard. Now we’re better prepared. We’re beginning conversations with lawmakers and looking for potential sponsors of a bill that would streamline regulations and protect the market.
It’s also important for legislators to hear that it’s not just business owners concerned about profitability. If consumers want continued access to these products, it will be critical for them to speak up not only in Kentucky but also on the federal level to ensure access to regulated hemp products is maintained.