(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of stores, breweries and other Iowa merchants that sell products containing T-H-C may face closure as the bill President Trump signed to end the federal government shutdown included an amendment to cap T-H-C sales. That part of the law won’t take effect for a year, and merchants hope to sway Congress to change it before then. During a conference call with Iowa reporters today (Friday), Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was asked if he’d consider reversing the restrictions. “No, I won’t vote to change that, because as Senator McConnell said, it was never intended to go with this intoxicating effect of the product,” Grassley says “He says there’s a loophole, the industry took advantage of it, and it was never intended, and it should be closed.” The law caps the amount of T-H-C to less than a half milligram per container for hemp products, while current Iowa law allows up to 10 milligrams of T-H-C per container.

Grassley says stores will have a year to clear out the more potent items. “The product you’re talking about is not sold as the only product in the stores,” Grassley says. “It’s sold along with hundreds or thousands of other products, and the product might go away, but the stores aren’t going to go away.” At least one Iowa merchant strongly disagrees. Ashley Lambson, founder of The Happy Can in Urbandale, tells Iowa Public Radio the new restrictions would “wipe out everything,” including ointments, gummies, chocolates, and beverages. Grassley, a Republican, says the more powerful products need to be taken off the shelves. “Senator McConnell of Kentucky authored this legislation to legalize hemp,” Grassley says, “because we were thinking in terms of industrial hemp, with about the 2% THC in it, and not the strong stuff.”

Several Iowa companies make cannabis-infused beverages, including Toppling Goliath Brewing Company in Decorah and Des Moines-based Climbing Kites.