Six hemp companies and a major lobbying group for the industry filed a lawsuit seeking to block California’s ban on intoxicating hemp-derived products.
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable filed the suit against the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, the day after the state’s Office of Administrative Law approved the ban, which immediately put the moratorium in place.
The ban was proposed by the CDPH, whose recommendation resulted in Gov. Gavin Newsom issuing emergency regulations on Sept. 6 to prohibit any “detectable levels of THC or other intoxicating cannabinoids” in hemp products.
The emergency regulations imposed an age requirement of 21 to purchase hemp products and expanded the definition of THC to include 30 different isomers on top of delta-8, delta-9 and delta-10 THC as well as THCA.
California hemp illegal ‘overnight’
The ban means eliminating “nearly every ingestible hemp product currently for sale in California, including the vast majority of non-intoxicating products,” the advocacy group Hemp Roundtable alleges in the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
As a result of the moratorium, “overnight, major swaths of the hemp and hemp products industries in California became immediately illegal,” the complaint claims.
According to the suit, the ban violates the 2018 federal Farm Bill, the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution and the plaintiffs’ due-process rights as well as state law.
It seeks a judge’s declaration that the ban is invalid and an order blocking its implementation.
In addition to the Hemp Roundtable, a leading critic of California’s ban, the plaintiffs include:
- Cheech and Chong’s, which markets hemp-derived THC beverages and other products nationwide.
- JuiceTiva, which markets “hemp juice powder food supplements,” according to the lawsuit.
- Blaze Life, a hemp beverage company.
- Boldt Runners Corp., which markets hemp-derived CBD “oral pouches.”
- Lucky To Be Beverage Co.
- Sunflora, which produces gummies and seltzers.
The lawsuit also points out that the state legalized hemp-derived cannabinoids under Assembly Bill 45, which Newsom signed into law in 2021.
The bill was designed to allow “a formal pathway for hemp-based CBD to be used legally in foods, beverages and other products in the state,” MJBizDaily reported at the time.
No proof of a hemp-derived THC ’emergency’
The state could have updated those regulations at any time via the normal lawmaking process, but such efforts – including a last-minute push in the state Legislature last month – have failed.
Hemp Roundtable’s Miller pointed to the Assembly’s “inaction” as proof that Newsom and the state do “not come close to demonstrating that an ’emergency’ exists.”
“We are hopeful that once relief is granted, the governor will finally meet with the hemp industry to appropriately address his stated mission: to develop a robust regulatory regime that promotes health and safety and keeps hemp products out of the hands of minors,” Miller added.
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