Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has joined a bipartisan coalition of 34 other attorneys general urging congressional leaders to preserve the federal definition of hemp adopted in November 2025.
The coalition sent a letter to congressional leadership and the chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees asking lawmakers to reject efforts to delay, repeal, suspend or weaken the revised definition.
Congress approved the change in 2025 to address a provision in the 2018 Farm Bill that allowed intoxicating hemp-derived products to be sold without consistent regulation.
According to the coalition, states, federal agencies, businesses and consumers have begun adjusting to the revised federal standard. Many states have also aligned or are working to align their laws and enforcement efforts with the federal definition.
The attorneys general said weakening or delaying the revised definition could create regulatory uncertainty, increase litigation, disrupt businesses that have adapted to the new rules and allow unregulated intoxicating hemp products to return to the market.
The coalition said maintaining the current framework would support consistent national regulations and provide certainty for states and businesses.
Attorneys general from Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming also signed the letter.
