A major agriculture bill passed by the U.S. Congress last week could legalize hemp at the federal level, allowing farmers across the country to cultivate hemp, but that doesn’t necessarily spell good news for Humboldt County.

The bill, which now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature, includes a provision that lifts hemp off of a list of federally criminalized drugs. Hemp oil, known to have medicinal benefits, can now be sold recreationally, so long as cannabis’ high-inducing component, known commonly as THC, is limited to below 0.3 percent.

Among other things, the bill allows states to regulate hemp sales individually. In California, hemp is already decriminalized, with a web of regulatory costs imposed on growers, oil extractors and retailers alike.

“I think the hemp marketplace will be the framework for all of the (federal) regulation that is yet to be laid out,” said Gillian Levy, president and co-founder of Humboldt Apothecary, a local cannabis company.

Currently, local companies market hemp products with low levels of THC, though often not as low as the farm bill dictates, meaning the products are legal only by way of California law.

But if other companies in the country begin selling hemp products within the legal THC level, they won’t face any of the prohibitive costs or federal tax restrictions that pump up the price of Humboldt County’s legal hemp. As a result, out-of-state hemp might sink local companies in the competitive marketplace.

“Those guys are not going to have to apply for a license, they’re not going to need to go through rigorous and problematic testing that we’re subjected to, they don’t have to install the same amount of security,” Levy said.

The massive farm bill, with a dizzying number of sections, contains much more than just hemp legalization.

Rep. Jared Huffman voted for the bill, citing its benefits to the North Coast’s local farmers, but said in a statement the bill comes with pros and cons.

“Unfortunately, in many ways, this bill is a missed opportunity,” he wrote. “It fails to address hunger security in our communities, does nothing to reform subsidies and crop insurance, and comes up short in handling the threat that climate change poses to agricultural economies and rural communities.”

Within days of its legalization, many are already leaping into the hemp industry.

“Lots of people want to partner up with me,” said John Davis, who builds butane oil extracting machines. “The demand is a lot greater; I can’t build these machines as fast as people want them.”

Cannabinoid products, called CBD, can contain no THC at all, but Levy says that actually has diminishing returns on the therapeutic help cannabis is known to provide. A proper “synergy” between CBD and small amounts of THC creates exponential amounts of therapeutic relief proportional to how much is consumed.

Unfortunately for Humboldt County manufacturers, any THC at all also means falling under the state’s regulatory barriers. And facilities can’t simply use both federal and state legal protections. If someone’s producing THC-heavy cannabis in the same facility as hemp, they need state regulations.

“God, it’s such a challenge to navigate this whole mess of regulations,” Levy said. “When we’re talking about hemp and cannabis, they’re so genetically similar. There’s one heavily regulated pathway and there’s this other, less regulated industry. It’s arbitrary — like a silly Dr. Seuss book.”

Shomik Mukherjee can be reached at 707-441-0504.