Dr. Mehmet Oz, who currently heads the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs, is asking Congress to hold off on a planned federal ban on hemp products. His goal is to make sure elderly and disabled Americans do not lose access to CBD treatments that help them manage severe pain, cancer symptoms, and seizures.
Under a law signed late last year, most hemp-derived products will become illegal in November. The new rules strictly limit how much THC—the compound found in cannabis—can be in any single item. While lawmakers originally set out to remove unregulated, high-potency edibles from gas station shelves, the strict limits also sweep up standard full-spectrum CBD products. Many seniors rely on these exact remedies for everyday health care.
To solve this problem, Dr. Oz launched a new program allowing certain Medicare plans to cover up to five hundred dollars a year in hemp-derived CBD for patients with chronic conditions. However, if the upcoming federal prohibition goes into effect as scheduled, that program will immediately collapse. Senate leaders recently drafted a short-term bill to delay the hemp ban until December, giving lawmakers more time to work out a compromise.
Not everyone in Washington agrees with the delay. Senator Ted Budd of North Carolina and several other lawmakers have filed an effort to push the November ban through on time. They argue that intoxicating hemp treats are dangerous to children and create a public health crisis that needs to be shut down right away. On the other side, President Donald Trump and White House officials have urged lawmakers to protect therapeutic CBD, arguing that millions of adults rely on it to stay comfortable and active.
For now, the fate of these products rests on an upcoming Senate vote. If Congress agrees to delay the ban, lawmakers will have a few extra weeks to build a system that keeps dangerous products off store shelves while still letting seniors get the CBD treatments they need.
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