In 2014, under the Hemp Pilot Program, government regulations for hemp cultivation and hemp testing were first established, though this hemp program was quite limited in scope, scale, and applications. Subsequently in 2018, the USDA Farm Bill was passed to legalize and regulate broader cultivation of hemp, as well as specifically and explicitly differentiating hemp plants from cannabis plants. In order for a sample to qualify as "hemp," and thus qualify for the exemption from Schedule 1 status, the product must not exceed Delta-9-THC levels of .3%, according to current United States government regulations. Therefore any extract, derivative, or product with more than that limit is considered to be a controlled substance. However, there is a significant momentum developing in the cannabis industry behind increasing that potency limit to 1% in the United States, as it is in most of the world. In August of 2020, the DEA's Interim Final Rule was released.

Specifically, the Final Interim Rule elucidates the DEA's assertion that hemp processors can convert legal use hemp products into illegal use marijuana products, therefore bringing them under the DEA’s jurisdiction if said processing and extraction increases the THC concentration above the 0.3% threshold, even if it is for a transient moment during the extraction process.