McConnell, who is credited with leading the charge to reintroduce hemp, is now looking to fix what he sees as a loophole past legislation has created — one allowing for intoxicating synthetics.
The former Senate majority leader claims "bad actors" are taking advantage of a lack of regulation to sell products more intoxicating than marijuana and, in some cases, marketing THC-enhanced items to young people.
The language, I think, would kill the hemp industry completely.Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on proposed THC limits
Yet most of the senator's Kentucky colleagues on the hill view his proposed federal limits on THC levels as too restrictive and a potential threat to the hemp industry.
Of the state's six representatives, Congressmen James Comer, Andy Barr, and Thomas Massie, all Republicans — along with Democrat Morgan McGarvey — have signed a letter in opposition to the proposed federal limits.
The provision was tossed in the Senate, where Kentucky's Rand Paul successfully blocked McConnell's limits and offered dire warnings about their knock-on effects.
"The language, I think, would kill the hemp industry completely," Paul predicted. "The hemp industry is a legitimate industry with a legitimate product and I'm very, very worried."
But the hemp restrictions survived in a U.S. House bill and could still make it to the president's desk.
Enter President Trump, who recently posted a video praising the benefits of CBD for older Americans.
"Hemp-derived CBD can help them feel better, live longer, and improve their quality of life," the video's narrator says.
Opponents of the federal THC limits in hemp products are hoping that means they have an ally in the White House.