As Congress voted to end the government shutdown on Wednesday, there was a ban on intoxicating hemp products containing THC, which will have a major impact on businesses in the Pittsburgh area.

On Thursday afternoon, Carter Utz showed off her inventory at Lawrenceville Hemp Co., proud of how far she’s come as a business owner.

“We got hit by a car and got a large settlement, and we’re able to come out of that better, enriched with this business,” Utz said.

She opened her shop on Butler Street in April 2024 to give people a place to buy legal THC products that could help them with chronic pain, inflammation, anxiety and depression.

For her, they’ve been lifesavers, as someone with Type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

“I was suddenly able to effortlessly have weekends where I do things with friends, go to movies, go out,” Utz said.

However, a year from now, she may not have access to hemp or CBD that has THC content greater than 0.4 milligrams, either personally or as a store owner. That’s because tucked into the new law to end the federal government shutdown was a ban on some hemp products.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to stay open,” Utz said.

It closes a loophole from the Farm Bill of 2018, which allowed products that could be more potent than marijuana to hit the marketplace and attract children with bright-colored packaging.

Patrick Nightingale is a criminal defense attorney in the Pittsburgh area and the president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

“That has created a wide unregulated marketplace where unregulated and untested products are working their way onto retail shelves and being made available to the public,” Nightingale said. 

He said the new law basically eliminates nearly all products derived from hemp from being sold at convenience stores, gas stations and online.

“Any intoxicating hemp products that are produced are now subject to state regulation,” Nightingale said.

This means the only way to get these products in Pennsylvania would be if state lawmakers pass a bill regulating them for adult use, allowing businesses to get a license similar to that for medical marijuana.

However, in the interim, Utz worries for herself and the thousands of others whose lives she said will be turned upside down if something doesn’t change.

“This is my livelihood that they’re playing with,” Utz said.

According to a 2023 report from Whitney Economics, a cannabis and hemp research consulting firm, this legislation will destroy 95 percent of businesses and cost $1.5 billion in lost tax revenue.

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