With a feud raging over what’s a regulated “intoxicant,” billions of cannabis dollars hang in the balance.

Forming America’s sixth-largest crop yielding 48.8 million pounds of flower and projected to generate $33.5 billion in 2023 legal sales, marijuana’s plunging price-per-pound and the availability of cheaper, unregulated hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products is thwarting the cannabis industry.