The Denver Gazette has a Colorado story that smells like a hemp convention collided with a Washington fundraiser and somebody forgot to open a window. Bret Worley, the 30-year-old CEO of Colorado-based MC Nutraceuticals, is at the center of an industry push to delay a federal ban on most intoxicating hemp products. His company calls itself the largest global supplier of cannabinoids, and Worley also happens to have married the daughter of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
That family connection matters because, according to litigation documents cited by the Gazette, a North Carolina hemp manufacturer alleged Worley had bragged about political connections and claimed he could use his relationship with Caroline Wiles to help secure political appointments and other favors. The same lawsuit suggested those claims may have been exaggerated to boost his stature in the hemp business and attract investors. Meanwhile, the White House has backed delaying the coming federal hemp ban, although it flatly denies that Wiles personally lobbied Congress on the issue. Welcome to Washington, where apparently even bong-water policy comes with a VIP section. (denvergazette.com)
The Bullet Point Brief
- Congress decided the hemp experiment had wandered pretty far off the farm. Lawmakers passed a measure last November banning nearly all hemp-derived products beginning this November, reversing much of the 2018 legalization that had originally been sold as an economic opportunity for farmers. Critics say the loophole instead helped create a largely unregulated market for intoxicating products that can be bought at gas stations and online.
- Then somebody in Washington discovered the brakes. The White House has reportedly pushed for roughly a monthlong delay and a regulatory framework that could keep many hemp products legal. A short-term Senate funding measure subsequently included language delaying the ban, despite Republican opposition from lawmakers including Sen. Ted Budd and Rep. Andy Harris.
- MC Nutraceuticals was not exactly shy about taking a victory lap. The company told supporters the delay happened because the industry “showed up” and teased another push before the end of the year. Rep. Harris called the Worleys’ behavior “chest thumping.” When your lobbying newsletter starts sounding like the postgame speech from a political influence Super Bowl, people are allowed to notice.
- Worley’s companies already have some Colorado regulatory baggage. In 2025, the Worleys and their companies agreed to pay $50,000 to resolve a consumer protection investigation by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office. According to the settlement cited by the Gazette, investigators found misrepresentations concerning the source, quality, characteristics, ingredients or health benefits of products. The companies also agreed to establish age verification.
- And apparently one settlement was not enough excitement for the calendar year. In December, the Worleys and their companies agreed to another $75,000 payment after the attorney general said they continued soliciting Colorado consumers for products prohibited from sale in the state and improperly used testing laboratories not certified by state regulators. That brings the two resolutions cited by the Gazette to $125,000. Nothing says “please trust us while we help shape federal policy” quite like bringing a consumer-protection receipt to the meeting.
My Bottom Line
This is not really a story about whether hemp is good, bad, medicinal, recreational, agricultural or something your cousin Kyle buys beside the beef jerky at a truck stop. It is a story about the way political influence gets manufactured, advertised and monetized.
If litigation documents accurately describe Worley’s boasting, the arrogance is breathtaking. According to those documents, associates contended he claimed his personal connections could produce political favors. The lawsuit itself suggested those claims may have been exaggerated. Fine. Keep the legal language where it belongs. But either possibility is ugly. If the influence was real, Americans should want to know why. If it was exaggerated to impress investors and industry players, that is hardly a character reference for the guy standing near the front of a major federal policy fight.
And this is where Colorado’s modern gray-market business model deserves its own commemorative plaque. Find a loophole. Monetize it. Brand the whole operation as freedom and innovation. When regulators arrive, lawyer up. When Washington threatens the business model, hire lobbyists, work the political connections and explain that civilization may collapse unless Congress gives you another month. MC Nutraceuticals’ own celebration of the proposed delay makes clear the industry believes political pressure matters.
Government should not be a VIP room where access depends on whose wedding you attended, whose daughter you married or how much your trade organization can spend lobbying Congress. Maybe the federal hemp ban is too broad. Maybe Congress needs a better regulatory framework. Have that debate in daylight. But when an industry operator tied to $125,000 in Colorado consumer-protection settlements winds up in the middle of a Washington campaign while litigation documents are floating around alleging boasts of White House influence, taxpayers are entitled to ask who exactly is writing the rules. Because this has stopped looking like sober policymaking and started looking like Colorado’s hemp circus found a lobbying firm.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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