Longest Federal Shutdown Ends — Washington Keeps Deficit Spending & Handing Cartels Gifts by Banning Hemp

Originally published on Substack. 

​The federal government finally reopened — on my 44th birthday (Nov. 12), no less — after the longest government shutdown in American history.

Forty-three days of drama, political brinkmanship, and leadership failures from both parties ended with a massive spending deal that…cut no spending, kept Biden’s bloated post-COVID spending levels, but preserved the provisions in the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill”: expanded Obamacare subsidies that were supposed to expire years ago when Biden ended the emergency declaration but now represent $1.5 trillion in new spending over a decade.

In other words: Congress ended the shutdown by agreeing to spend more with continued trillions of dollars in deficits…to avoid talking about spending. But somehow, in the middle of all this dysfunction, they did find one thing they could agree on: A nationwide ban on hemp-derived THC products starting a year from now.

Yes — the government that can’t pass a real budget and running $2 trillion deficits for a $38 trillion national debt that’s 120% of GDP suddenly found laser-like focus when it came to shutting down an entire estimated $28 billion industry, destroying more than 300,000 jobs, and throwing thousands of small businesses under the regulatory bus.

As I’ve been saying for years: When politicians panic, liberty is the first casualty.

The Ban: A Disaster Wrapped Inside a Spending Bill

Tucked into the agriculture portion of the spending package was a provision banning any hemp-derived consumer product containing more than 0.4 mg of THC per container — far below what many products contains.

​For context:

• A typical edible gummy has 2.5 to 10 mg of THC.
• The 2018 Farm Bill allowed hemp with <0.3% THC by dry weight, not per container.
• This new threshold wipes out 95% of the legal hemp market.

It is, as industry leaders put it, “a complete ban dressed up as a safety rule.”
The ban takes effect one year from passage — unless Congress reverses course. That means the clock is already ticking. And as always, when government swings a hammer, real people get crushed:

• Texas, Kentucky, and Utah — states with major hemp industries — stand to lose thousands of farmers, manufacturers, and retailers.
• Consumers who use hemp products for sleep, chronic pain, PTSD, or simple relaxation lose access to legal, regulated options.
• And prohibition predictably shifts demand to black markets, where quality control is nonexistent and bad actors like drug dealers and cartels thrive.

If this sounds familiar, it should. We’ve run this experiment before — during alcohol prohibition, in the war on drugs, and every time politicians confuse public health with political control.
The result?
More crime. More cartels. More Al Capones. And less safety, less transparency, and less personal responsibility.
Thank You, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul — One Who Tried
Let’s be clear: not every Republican supported this nonsense. US Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) offered an amendment to strike the hemp ban outright. It was the right move — grounded in constitutional principles, federalism, and basic economic sanity. He deserves credit for standing firm for small businesses, property rights, and individual liberty. But most of the Senate ignored him and voted for prohibition anyway — many of whom preach “limited government” while voting like central planners.
Ask yourself: Are lawmakers protecting public safety…or protecting alcohol lobbyists who don’t want competition Because this looks less like moral conviction and more like the oldest story in politics: Baptists and Bootleggers working together.
Economics 101: There’s No Market Failure Here
For government to intervene in a market, there must be a clear, demonstrable market failure — something the private sector cannot solve. That simply doesn’t apply here. There is no imbalance of information: consumers know what a THC gummy is. There is no externality beyond personal choices: adults consume responsibly or not, like alcohol, caffeine, or Tylenol.
There is no monopoly requiring intervention: the hemp market is one of the most competitive sectors in America. What we have instead is a classic case of politicians treating adults like children and industries like political bargaining chips.
Prohibition is not regulation. Prohibition is not safety. Prohibition is not limited government. Prohibition is force — and force fails every time.
The Real Path Forward: Freedom, Federalism, and Civil Society
If Congress wants to keep communities safe and entrepreneurs accountable, here’s the path:
1. Legalize and Decriminalize, Don’t Criminalize and Ban
Prohibition empowers criminals, cartels, and fentanyl. Legal markets empower consumers, safety, transparency, and competition.
2. State-Level Regulation, not Bans, Work Better
Hemp is overwhelmingly a local and intrastate industry — making it a textbook case for federalism. Let states set testing standards, retail rules, and age limitations, not bans like Texas tried this year and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed and issued an executive order for 21+ purchases and not near sensitive locations like schools (should be legislation instead of EO as executives are getting too much power these days among populists).



3. Civil Society > Federal Bureaucracy
Addiction and misuse require family support, churches, nonprofits, mental-health expertise, and community care — not another round of federal raids or one-size-fits-all bans.
4. Respect Adults, Respect Markets
Consumers deserve choice. Entrepreneurs deserve opportunity. Liberty requires both.
Conclusion: If Congress Won’t Protect Liberty, We Must
This entire episode — the shutdown, the spending bill, the hemp ban — reveals a simple truth: Washington will spend endlessly, regulate recklessly, and ban freely unless the American people push back.
But there is good news: Liberty is resilient. Entrepreneurs are resilient. And Americans overwhelmingly prefer freedom over prohibition.
The hemp ban doesn’t take effect for one full year. That means now is the time — for advocacy, legislation, litigation, and education. And as someone who’s spent his career fighting for pro-growth, pro-freedom, pro-prosperity policy, I can tell you:

This fight is winnable. Let’s get to work.

​— Vance Ginn, Ph.D.