Joe Rogan Slams ‘Really Bad’ Federal Hemp Ban Trump Signed, Blaming Alcohol Industry For Influencing Congress

Podcaster Joe Rogan says Congress needs to fix the “really bad” mistake lawmakers made by recriminalizing consumable hemp products—warning that restricting access to cannabinoids like CBD will harm people who use them therapeutically, such as his mother-in-law. And he attributes the passage of the controversial cannabis ban to alcohol industry lobbying.

On an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that was released on Tuesday, Rogan and comedian Theo Von discussed the federal hemp THC product prohibition that was included in a spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last week.

“They slipped this thing in where you can no longer buy CBD,” Rogan said. “It has to be like the lowest trace amount of THC in it. Like my wife’s mom, she’s an older lady and she takes CBD for pain for joints and stuff like that.”

The hemp policy change won’t be implemented for another year, and stakeholders are already at work seeking to get lawmakers to advance legislation before then to provide a regulatory alternative to prohibition for intoxicating cannabinoids.

But as enacted, the law would prescribe a THC limit so low that hemp businesses widely believe the industry would be wiped out. That’s because it’s virtually impossible to produce and extract even non-intoxicating cannabinoids like CBD without traces of THC in the final product, unless a company makes the costly decision to manufacture CBD isolates.

Even then, as Rogan pointed out, patients like his mother-in-law often report that CBD products are more effective at treating conditions such as pain and inflammation when they contain some amount of THC or other cannabinoids. Scientists call this synergistic quality of cannabis the “entourage effect.”

Rogan and Von went back and forth about the hemp ban and mocked Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for his role in “slipping” the prohibitionist provisions into the appropriations legislation. Rogan called the senator, who championed a section of the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp and its derivatives, a “dead fucking old turtle” and said “everybody hates him.”

Rogan stressed that Congress needs to “change” the “really bad” law they enacted, at least for patients’ sake.

Von asked Rogan to expand on why he took issue with the federal hemp policy reversal, and the podcaster said it’s because “people that are getting benefits from CBD” see better health outcomes with THC in the mix, even at “super, super low amounts” that doesn’t cause a high.

“Like, this is the misunderstanding. This stuff’s not gonna get you high,” Rogan said. “But what it will do is it helps with anxiety for a lot of people. It definitely reduces inflammation.” He also mentioned a friend, the actor Dave Foley, whose arthritis is “now gone” since he started using cannabis.

“It’s really effective, man. It’s really effective,” he said, adding that he believes the alcohol industry was a driving force in getting Congress to impose the hemp ban.

“It’s the same people that are trying to keep marijuana illegal in Texas. It’s the alcohol lobby. The fact is, when people start smoking weed, they drink less,” he said. “It could be because they just decided to get high and not get drunk. Or it could be that they smoke pot and they get a little paranoid and they go, oh my god, why am I poisoning myself five days a week?”

Von joked that nowadays people are “just doing like cocaine and saunas, it seems like,” to which Rogan replied: “Maybe in your neighborhood.”

The host has made a habit of raising drug policy issues on his podcast. That includes late last year, when he claimed former Vice President Kamala Harris “didn’t want to talk about marijuana legalization” when she was invited—and ultimately declined—to participate in an interview him ahead of the presidential election.

Harris discussed the issue in a book published earlier this year, disputing Rogan’s claims and asserting that the reason she didn’t go on the show was related to broader scheduling and location inflexibility on the podcast’s end. Rogan, who ultimately endorsed Trump shortly before the election, said he thought the alleged refusal to discuss cannabis “was hilarious.”

Also last year, Rogan fielded questions about the medical potential of psychedelics from then-Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) before he was elected vice president. Vance said he was “fascinated” by the subject and asked about potential pathways to provide therapeutic access to substances like MDMA and psilocybin for military veterans with mental health conditions.

Image element courtesy of Joe Rogan.

New Netflix Documentary Shows How Psychedelics Help Military Veterans Heal Trauma

“Too many treatments put a Band-Aid fix on it…but psychedelics get into your unconscious.”

By Josh Kasoff, Filter

Many United States veterans endure unrelieved suffering, long after they return home, from conditions related to their traumatic experiences. This manifests in tragic ways.

But the psychedelic renaissance brings new hope to this situation—and of sparking wider reform, when veteran-focused legislation may help open the door to broader access. The film , released on Netflix on November 3, will increase public exposure to harrowing issues and potential solutions.

The documentary, which premiered at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival, details the journeys to psychedelic treatment of three Navy SEALs: Marcus Capone, D.J. Shipley and Matty Roberts.

“We’re so proud to have made this film,” Jon Shenk, who directed the film alongside Bonni Cohen, told the audience at a recent screening, hosted in Massachusetts by the veteran nonprofit Home Base. “Marcus was a 13-year Navy SEAL who sustained multiple [traumatic brain injuries] and concussions and was living with the aftermath of that devastating effect on his mental and physical health. He tried every pill and conventional therapy. They discovered this alternative therapy involving psychedelics, and it ended up really saving him.”

Another recent screening, which I attended, was hosted by the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute of Johns Hopkins University, at the Hopkins Bloomberg Institute in Washington, DC. Johns Hopkins, with its Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, has been among the pioneers in this space since 2000. Besides post-traumatic stress disorder, the department is researching psychedelic treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and smoking cessation, among other needs.

On screen, the three veterans candidly share painful memories of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They endured frequent nightmares after experiencing events like ambushes, the bullet wound that saw Roberts receive a Purple Heart, and Operation Red Wings, which in 2005 ended with 19 US troops killed by Taliban forces.

Many of the scars didn’t heal, and for Capone in particular, his resulting health problems began to cause issues with his family. None of the therapies and medications the VA recommended were helping, and his conditions were only worsening.

“My mental condition has diminished. I’ve tried to hide this for the past couple years, but it’s become painfully obvious to the people close to me that I am struggling in many aspects of my life,” Capone wrote in his letter to request medical retirement from the Navy, part of which he reads out during.

“The audience was deeply moved by the story of Marcus Capone and his fellow Navy Seals, the efforts of Marcus’s wife Amber, and the ongoing struggles of our military veterans,” Dr. Virginia Jewiss, the moderator of the DC panel discussion and a professor at the Humanities Institute, told Filter after the event. “We were all stunned and dismayed to learn of the high suicide rates among the military.”

Jewiss also praised the film’s “creative use of animation to bring the viewer into the psychedelic experience.”

Hope for Capone seemed nonexistent, until his wife learned of the possibilities of psychedelic treatments that were being conducted at clinics in Mexico. The therapies utilized ibogaine and DMT, two naturally occurring psychedelics that are prohibited under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act in the US.

Capone was apprehensive, but after persuasion and eventually an ultimatum from his wife and family, he went to Mexico.

He found the treatment extraordinarily effective. He described gaining new, positive perspectives, or closure, on past traumas, such as the drowning death of a close friend and fellow SEAL. He believes this is unlikely to have happened through any VA-sanctioned therapy.

“All of our friends that are suffering,” he told his wife after his trip, “we need to introduce this to them to get them better.”

In 2019, Marcus and Amber Capone founded the nonprofit VETS (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions). Both Shipley and Roberts are among over 1,200 people they’ve since funded to receive psychedelic treatments.

“We can’t meet the demand,” Capone told PBS News. “We’re overwhelmed with applications. I’d say we can accept one out of every 10.”

Advocates have long urged that veterans and other people in need should be able to receive psychedelic treatment without the cost and difficulty of having to leave the country.

There are signs they’re getting through. In December 2024, it was announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs would fund its first study on psychedelic-assisted therapy since the 1960s, using MDMA for veterans with PTSD and AUD. Recently expanded VA research is also investigating MDMA and psilocybin for PTSD, treatment-resistant depression and anxiety disorders.

During animated sequences in the film, the three SEALs describe their experiences, with ibogaine and DMT, of overcoming or coming to internal peace with not only the traumas of war, but also traumatic events from life long before they enlisted.

“Ibogaine gets to the root cause of what’s affecting your everyday life,” Capone told PBS News. “Too many treatments put a Band-Aid fix on it…but psychedelics get into your unconscious.”

“Mexico beat the crap out of me,” Roberts tells his therapist at the end of . “But I could feel a connection to everything.” 

This article was originally published by Filter, an online magazine covering drug use, drug policy and human rights through a harm reduction lens. Follow Filter on Bluesky, X or Facebook, and sign up for its newsletter.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Mushroom Observer.

Seth Rogen Says Push To Ban Hemp THC Drinks Shows ‘Someone Is Very Threatened’ By The Expanding Market

Actor and cannabis icon Seth Rogen says the push to restrict or ban sales of THC beverages amid their rise in popularity shows that “clearly someone is very threatened by them.” But he expects the hemp drink market to prevail in response to consumer demand.

Rogen, whose own cannabis brand Houseplant launched a line of infused beverages last year, spoke about cannabis culture and policy issues in an interview with Bon Appétit that was published on Wednesday.

Asked for his thoughts about the future of the marijuana industry, the comedian said he thinks THC drinks “are very clearly a hot area of discussion, and you see clearly someone is very threatened by them because a lot of states have a lot of lobbying and pressure to not sell them.”

To that point, federal records show that the last three months have seen a surge in congressional lobbying from major alcohol companies and associations aiming to influence federal hemp laws, with a focus on THC beverages that many consumers are turning to as beer and liquor alternatives.

Rogen said THC drinks are a “really good entry level weed product” for people who are afraid of cannabis.

“A lot of people drink alcohol. A lot of people are looking for some sort of release, and I actually think weed is probably a very good choice for a lot of people who don’t think it is a good choice for them,” he said. “It’s all about finding the right way to consume it.”

He also pushed back against state-level efforts to restrict cannabis products.

“The idea that that shouldn’t be allowed to happen in every state is really patronizing to people—it’s treating people like they’re idiots,” Rogen said. “We’re not stupid. We know what this does. We know it’s not more dangerous than alcohol.”

“The idea that it’s getting into some restaurants and bars and sports arenas, to me, is really exciting. I’ve always said until it’s as easy to buy weed as it is alcohol, there is a major gap in logic at play,” he added. “If you sell beer, there’s no reason not to sell [THC beverages], and some places have actually started to do that. That is really encouraging and exciting, and suggests a cultural shift that is tremendous.”

Beyond restaurants and sporting venues, cannabis beverages are also making their way onto shelves at commercial retailers—including Target, which recently soft launched a pilot program to sell THC-infused drinks for adults at select locations throughout Minnesota. A recent poll found that marketing decision to be popular among a majority of cannabis consumers.

Separately, a subsidiary of a multi-state marijuana company is suing DoorDash, Total Wine and several other businesses for allegedly violating Virginia hemp laws by marketing cannabis products that exceed the legal THC limit.

In the interview with Bon Appétit, Rogen also commented on shifting public perceptions of cannabis and his own role in dissolving stigmas associated with marijuana use through his acting and comedy.

He recounted how retired late night host David Letterman once told him that “no one talks about this,” and even marijuana legend Woody Harrelson “was very coy about it and wouldn’t directly say he smoked weed all the time.”

“Now he does, and now he has a dispensary. But at the time, it was not a thing that actors in mainstream movies did,” Rogen said.

The actor also said that cannabis culture has evolved in large part over the years because “people have started to see that the reasons weed was illegal in the first place were highly dubious.”

“They’ve started to question why weed would be so hard to access when alcohol is so easy. It seems like a new lie kind of prevails every now and then from whomever wants weed to remain illegal,” he said. “First it was it’ll just make you go fucking crazy, and then it’ll make you lazy, and then it’s a gateway drug. And slowly, people’s own experience tells them that you can be lazy and crazy and become a drug addict without ever trying weed, and you could smoke weed and never have any of those things happen to you.”

“People saw that with their own eyes, and slowly, these stigmas started to go away.”

Beyond his contributions to cannabis culture and the industry, Rogen has also leveraged his celebrity to advocate for reform—including in 2021 when he and other influencers like comedian Sarah Silverman launched a campaign  meant to encourage U.S. voters to reach out to their senators and demand action on legislation to federally legalize cannabis.

Earlier this year, the actor also disclosed the one place he refuses to use cannabis: Singapore, which maintains some of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world.

Image element courtesy of Collision Conf.