吉恩·约翰逊：在北卡罗来纳州罗利市郊的一间商用厨房里，尼古拉斯·霍恩斯正将一种蓝绿色的粘稠物倒入带网格的模具中，制作出他公司的一款标志性产品——含有高浓度四氢大麻酚（THC）的软糖。这种物质正是大麻中使人产生醉态的主要成分。
GENE JOHNSON In a commercial kitchen outside Raleigh, North Carolina, Nicholas Hohns spreads a blue-green goo into a gridded mold, making one of his company’s signature products: potent THC gummies, featuring the primary intoxicating compound found in marijuana .
不过，他可能很快就得放弃这门生意了。此前，美国的大麻素产品市场规模已达数十亿美元，从塔吉特超市里售卖的含THC气泡水到可吸食的大麻花，各类产品层出不穷。然而如今，随着国会决定堵住联邦法律中的漏洞，整个行业面临着被全面取缔的风险。
It’s a business he might soon have to give up. America’s multibillion-dollar market for impairing hemp products — from THC seltzers sold at some Target stores to smokable cannabis flowers — faces potential elimination after Congress voted to close a loophole in federal law that has allowed it to flourish.
行业从业者及部分议员正竭力争取挽救这一产业。上个月，唐纳德·特朗普总统签署了短期政府拨款法案，将“大麻素禁令”的生效日期从11月12日推迟至12月11日，为国会留出更多时间研究相关产品的监管方案，而非直接予以禁止。
Advocates for the industry, along with some lawmakers, are fighting to save it. The short-term government-funding bill signed by President Donald Trump last month delayed the effective date of the “hemp THC ban” from Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, giving Congress more time to consider regulating the products rather than banning them.
“现在的处境真是奇怪，”霍恩斯说道，“过去四年我每周工作100小时，确实也赚到了些钱。可现在，我可能什么都留不下了。”大麻与工业大麻其实同属大麻属植物：大麻的种植目的就是获取花部中高含量的THC；而低THC含量的工业大麻历来多用于提取坚韧的纤维、制作食品或保健品。长期以来，支持工业大麻合法化的农民们一直以“要绳索，不要毒品”作为自己的口号。
“It’s such a weird spot to be in,” said Hohns. “You worked 100 hours a week for the past four years, and, yeah, you made some money. But now you might have nothing to show for it.”Marijuana and hemp are the same plant — cannabis. Marijuana is cultivated for high levels of THC in its flowers. Low-THC hemp has historically been grown for its sturdy fibers, food or wellness products. “Rope, not dope” was long the motto of farmers who supported legalizing hemp.
为了让农民多一种创收作物，肯塔基州共和党参议员米奇·麦康奈尔在2018年的农业法案中成功推动了工业大麻的合法化。
To give farmers a new cash crop, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell successfully pushed the legalization of industrial hemp in the 2018 farm bill.
然而，该法案对工业大麻的定义——即其重量中特定类型THC（名为δ-9 THC）的含量须低于0.3%——却留下了一个巨大的漏洞。许多饮料或零食虽然符合这一标准，但其所含的THC含量仍足以让人产生醉态。
But the way that law defined hemp — as having less than 0.3% of a specific type of THC, called delta-9, by weight — opened a huge loophole . Beverages or snacks could meet that threshold and still contain more than enough THC to get people high.
关键信息：含有大麻成分（THC）的电子烟油、软糖、薯片、汽水等未经监管、未经检测的产品在全国范围内广泛销售，甚至在加油站和便利店也能买到，青少年也能轻易获取这些产品。一些商家以“原始大麻中的THC以THC-A的形式存在，只有经过加热或燃烧后才会转化为具有致幻作用的delta-9 THC”为借口，继续销售大麻相关产品。这些产品规避了各州对娱乐性大麻的禁令，同时也扰乱了那些大麻销售受到严格监管和高额征税地区的市场秩序。数十个州对此采取了监管或禁止措施。
Vape oil, gummy candies, chips, sodas and other unregulated, untested products laden with hemp-derived THC spread around the country , including in gas stations or convenience stores, where they were available even to teens. Some businesses started selling marijuana under the theory that raw marijuana’s THC is in a form called THC-A, which only turns into impairing delta-9 when heated or burned. The products evaded state prohibitions on recreational weed or undercut heavily taxed and regulated cannabis where it is legal. Dozens of states responded by regulating or banning impairing hemp products.
去年年底，麦康奈尔终于堵住了这一法律漏洞——他在一项旨在结束美国历史上最长政府停摆的法案中加入了针对大麻中THC含量的禁令。根据该禁令，大麻产品中的THC含量不得超过每容器0.4毫克，但该禁令需等待一年后才能正式生效。
McConnell finally closed the loophole late last year by inserting a hemp THC ban into a measure that ended the longest government shutdown in history. The ban, which limits the amount of THC in hemp products to 0.4 milligrams per container, wouldn’t take effect for a year.
根据市场研究机构Whitney Economics上个月的报告，这一禁令可能导致零售收入减少283亿美元，22.5万个就业岗位流失，并使各州的销售税收入减少21亿美元。
The ban “threatens to reduce retail revenues by $28.3 billion, displacing 225,000 jobs and reducing state sales tax potential by $2.1 billion,” according to a report last month from Whitney Economics, which studies the market.
相关行业希望通过将这类产品的销售对象限制在21岁及以上的成年人身上、限制每包产品中的THC含量，以及禁止进口大麻化合物来挽救自己的生意。肯塔基州“Cornbread Hemp”公司的老板埃里克·齐普勒（Eric Zipperle）和吉姆·希格登（Jim Higdon）表示，如果必须的话，他们愿意将产品中的THC含量限制在5毫克以内以争取立法者的支持；但他们认为0.4毫克的限制标准会彻底摧毁他们的生意。
The industry hopes to save itself by restricting impairing products to people 21 and older, limiting how much THC can be in a package, and banning imported cannabis compounds. The owners of Kentucky’s Cornbread Hemp, Eric Zipperle and Jim Higdon, are prepared to cap their products at, say, 5 milligrams if that’s what it takes to win support from lawmakers. But the 0.4 milligram limit would destroy their business, they said.
齐普勒说：“如果这项禁令在12月生效，我们的公司就完了。”该公司目前拥有105名员工，在18个州销售大麻相关产品，预计今年营收为6500万美元。
“If it goes through in December, this place is toast — it’s gone,” Zipperle said. They have 105 employees, sell hemp beverages in 18 states and expect to bring in $65 million this year.
美国大麻产业协会（U.S. Hemp Roundtable）的首席法律顾问乔纳森·米勒（Jonathan Miller）指出，0.4毫克的限制标准实际上也会禁止一些不含THC的CBD产品（如外用乳液）。
The 0.4-milligram cap is so low that it would ban even some non-impairing CBD products, such as topical lotions, said Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the industry group U.S. Hemp Roundtable.
北卡罗来纳州克莱顿市德特曼农场的经营者霍恩斯在新冠疫情中失去私人教练的工作后，进入了大麻行业。北卡罗来纳州尚未将医疗或娱乐用大麻合法化，但霍恩斯制作的许多食用大麻产品比那些已合法化的州所售的产品效力更强。
Hohns, who runs Deutermann Farms in Clayton, North Carolina, entered the hemp industry after losing his job as a personal trainer during the COVID-19 pandemic. North Carolina has not legalized either medical or recreational marijuana, but many of the edibles Hohns makes are more potent than what’s available in states that have.
“当我开始看到有人出售含THC的食用大麻产品时……我就想，我大概有18个月到两年的时间可以在这行里赚钱，”霍恩斯说。“政府不可能就这样坐视不管，任由我们这么做，因为这项产业原本应该是用于生产纤维、塑料、建筑材料和绳索的。”那已经是四年多以前的事了。由于担心行业会被叫停，霍恩斯一直将资本投入保持在最低水平。如果不得不退出含THC的大麻业务，他曾考虑生产其他产品，比如肌酸软糖。
“When I started seeing THC edibles being sold … I was like, I got 18 months to two years to make money in this industry,” Hohns said. “No way is the government just going to sit here and let us do this when this was supposed to be for fiber, plastics, building materials, rope.”That was more than four years ago. Hohns kept his capital investments minimal, fearing a shutdown. He has considered making other products, such as creatine gummies, if he has to get out of the hemp THC business.
对其他人来说，情况则更加压力重重。位于威斯康星州舍博伊根的加拿大饮料公司“Drinkin’ Buds”已经暂停了生产。联合创始人马特·斯旺森于周四主动从工资单上除名。
Things have been more stressful for others. Drinkin’ Buds, a cannabis beverage company in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has mothballed production. Co-founder Matt Swanson took himself off the payroll on Thursday.
“目前存在太多不确定性，”斯旺森说。“我正在积极寻找工作。”为大麻行业辩护的群体中，包括Total Wine & More在内的酒类零售商。大麻气泡水的销售帮助抵消了酒类销售额的下滑。反对者则包括那些认为这些产品危险的人。
“There’s just so much uncertainty,” Swanson said. “I’m actively looking for employment.”Among those who have come to the defense of the hemp industry are alcohol retailers, including Total Wine & More. Sales of cannabis seltzers have helped offset falling alcohol sales. Opponents include people who say the products are dangerous.
“我对失业的人表示同情，但我也同样同情那些生活因此受到影响的更多、更多的人，”“大麻智能应对组织”首席执行官凯文·萨贝特说。
“I have sympathy for people losing their jobs, but I also have sympathy for the many, many more people whose lives are affected by this,” said Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
将含THC的大麻视为不公平竞争的受监管合法大麻行业也支持这一禁令。州级合法大麻运营商的游说者科里·哈里斯认为，关于这种禁令对含THC大麻行业影响的悲观预测被夸大了。
The regulated legal marijuana industry, which sees hemp THC as unfair competition, also supports the ban. Cory Harris, a lobbyist for state-legal cannabis operators, suggested that dire predictions about its effect on the intoxicating hemp industry are overstated.
他表示，尽管禁令将终止跨州销售大麻二酚（THC）气泡水和软糖等产品，但部分产品仍可能在州内合法市场找到销路。THC饮料有可能在其生产所在州的商店内销售。北卡罗来纳州等州可能会采纳合法的大麻计划。
While the ban would end interstate sales of products like THC seltzers and gummies, some could find a home in legal in-state markets, he said. It’s possible THC drinks could be sold at stores in the states where they were produced. States like North Carolina could adopt legal hemp programs.
哈里斯说：“如果你从几乎没有任何规则的状态突然转向拥有大量规则，那确实会令人扫兴。欢迎来到我们的世界。但如果你将整个业务建立在法律上存在争议的漏洞之上，那只是你自行承担的风险。”美联社记者艾伦·G·布里德（北卡罗来纳州克莱顿）和迪伦·洛万（肯塔基州路易斯维尔）对此报道亦有贡献。
“If you go from having virtually no rules to suddenly having an awful lot of rules, that’s a buzzkill,” Harris said. “Welcome to our world. But if you establish your whole business within a legally questionable loophole, that’s just sort of the risk you take.”Associated Press reporters Allen G. Breed in Clayton, North Carolina, and Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed.