Tag: hemp

Ohio Judge Blocks Governor’s Hemp Product Ban From Taking Effect

Ohio stores can temporarily resume to selling intoxicating hemp products—for now.

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Carl Aveni granted a 14-day temporary restraining order on Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) executive order banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products on October 14.

DeWine announced last week a 90-day executive order that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products that also started on October 14. The next hearing in this case is scheduled for October 28.

Intoxicating hemp products are items that contain THC that are sold anywhere other than licensed marijuana dispensaries including gas stations, smoke shops and CBD stores, among others.

Marijuana is not considered an intoxicating hemp product and is legal in Ohio. This ban does not affect the marijuana law passed by voters in 2023.

“While we continue to fight in court, today’s developments underscore our continued desire to work with the General Assembly to pass permanent legislation regarding intoxicating hemp,” DeWine said in a statement.

Titan Logistic Group, Fumee Smoke and Vape and Invicta Partners—all members of the Ohio Healthy Alternatives Association—filed a lawsuit last week against the ban, arguing DeWine is breaking federal and state law by restricting access to these products.

“Today’s decision allows thousands of hardworking Ohio entrepreneurs to continue supporting their families and serving consumers who rely on access to safe, legal, and properly regulated hemp products,” Ohio Healthy Alternatives Association said in a statement.

The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

“The Executive Order is overly broad in that it applies to all hemp and hemp products including those that are legal under the 2018 Farm Bill and Ohio’s current laws,” the lawsuit says.

“It is also vague because there is no definition of ‘intoxicating hemp’ in the Ohio Revised Code or Ohio Administrative Code.”

DeWine—who has been calling on lawmakers to regulate or ban delta-8 THC products since January 2024—spent much of last week’s press conference where he announced the ban talking about the need to protect children from these products.

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As Ohio’s Intoxicating Hemp Product Ban Takes Effect, Business Owners Brace For Impact

Ohioans who sell intoxicating hemp products are worried what the 90-day ban that goes into effect on Tuesday will mean for their businesses and customers.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) recently announced a 90-day executive order that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products that starts October 14.

Intoxicating hemp products are items that contain THC that are sold anywhere other than licensed marijuana dispensaries including gas stations, smoke shops and CBD stores, among others.

Todd Hicks opened his new CBD store in Columbus days before DeWine announced the ban.

“It’s been heartbreaking,” he said. “Honestly, it’s been totally heartbreaking. I don’t know which direction to go.”

Hicks said he will likely have to close his new shop and let go of his three employees.

“I can’t afford them,” he said. “Well, there’s nothing for them to do, right? They can’t sell the product. There’s no one going to be answering the door or coming to the door to actually buy the product. So I don’t need them.”

Children getting ahold of intoxicating hemp products is a parental issue, Hicks said.

“They’re digging it out of their parents’ purse or something like that,” he said. “It’s not a sale issue.”

Mark Fashian, president of hemp product wholesaler Midwest Analytical Solutions in Delaware, Ohio, said the ban will put him out of business. He works with more than 500 stores around Ohio that sell intoxicating hemp products.

“We typically will sell to smoke shops or gas stations or convenience stores or drive-thrus, and every one of those have a mechanism for carding anyone,” Fashian said. “There is definitely carding happening all over the place.”

He said those shops are worried about how the ban will impact them.

“They’re just worried,” Fashian said. “They don’t know what to do. They don’t know what to do with their products.”

Jim Higdon, co-founder of Cornbread Hemp in Kentucky, which sells its products in more than 300 Ohio retail stores, said the intoxicating hemp ban has caused lots of confusion.

“Our retailer and distributor partners are very unhappy,” he said. “It’s really frustrating to watch the Republican Party be an anti-business party… To see the governor and members of the legislature be anti-business on this front is very concerning when other states have been able to figure this out.”

Kim Bryant, a salesperson at Your CBD Store Marion, said the average age of their customer is 50 years old.

“They want gummies for pain and gummies for sleep,” she said. “People want that instead of opioids or prescription drugs… The older people, they have no desire to go to a medical marijuana or recreational marijuana facility.”

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Ohio Governor Issues Order Banning Intoxicating Hemp Product Sales For 90 Days

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has issued a 90-day executive order banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products starting this coming Tuesday.

Intoxicating hemp products are items that contain THC that are sold anywhere other than licensed marijuana dispensaries including gas stations, smoke shops and CBD stores, among others. This ban includes THC-infused beverages.

“I am taking action today…to get these products off the streets and to have them taken off our shelves,” DeWine said Wednesday during a press conference. “Intoxicating hemp is dangerous, and we need to better protect our children… We believe this is the right thing to do.”

The 90-day executive order ends on January 12, 2026, and then it will be up to the lawmakers to decide if they want to see further action taken on intoxicating hemp.

“I’m not going to tell them what to do, but we have to have some control of this product,” DeWine said. “We can’t have a situation where it is legal for people to sell this to underage kids.”

Those shops who violate the executive order could be subject to a $500 fine for each day intoxicating hemp products remain on their shelves.

The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

“After these laws were passed, chemists began manipulating compounds in the legal, non-intoxicated hemp plant, turning these compounds into intoxicating THC, including Delta-8 and Delta-9, which are found in marijuana,” DeWine said. “It’s a totally different product.”

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Tennessee Alcohol Wholesalers Are Grabbing Control of the State’s Hemp Market

Few things are more difficult to eradicate in our system of modern governance than a government-sanctioned monopoly or oligopoly. A recently passed bill in Tennessee, which will allow the state’s alcohol wholesalers to take over hemp distribution in the state, shows that these monopolies are not only difficult to eliminate but also often attempt to expand their reach.    

The new law sets up a distribution system for hemp—which was legalized at the federal level in the 2018 Farm Bill—that mirrors the notorious three-tier system for alcohol distribution, which requires producers, wholesalers, and retailers to be legally separate entities. The three-tier system restricts producers and suppliers from selling directly to their customers and mandates that they work through a wholesaler to reach the market. This allows wholesalers to operate as functional monopolies or oligopolies in certain parts of states where only one or two wholesalers operate.

The law, which takes effect on January 1, 2026, also requires all wholesalers and retailers of hemp products to maintain a physical presence within the state. Out-of-state hemp suppliers will be prohibited from engaging in direct-to-consumer shipping to customers in Tennessee, and instead will be forced to work through the state’s wholesaler and retailer tiers. While in-state Tennessee hemp suppliers cannot ship their products to Tennesseans either, they are able to sell on-site directly to their customers, providing a workaround to avoid the three-tier system.

Cornbread Hemp, a Kentucky hemp supplier that recorded $1 million in Tennessee-based sales last year, is challenging the new law in federal court. Cornbread Hemp argues that Tennessee’s law unconstitutionally discriminates against out-of-state competitors in favor of in-state businesses, which is a violation of the Constitution’s Dormant Commerce Clause.

Supreme Court observers will recognize how closely the case mirrors Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas (2019). In the case, the majority struck down Tennessee’s requirement that applicants for alcohol wholesaling or retailing licenses must have resided in the state for over two years, finding it to be unconstitutional discrimination against out-of-state economic interests.

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New Ohio Senate Bill Would Ban Sale Of Intoxicating Hemp Products To People Under 21

Ohio state Sen. Bill DeMora (D) recently introduced a bill that would ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products to people under 21. Unlike some others that have been introduced, this bill would focus solely on hemp and not on changing voter-passed marijuana law.

Ohio Senate Bill 266 would also ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products that have not been tested under the same rules as marijuana and would prevent selling intoxicating hemp products that are “considered attractive to children,” according to the bill’s language.

This bill would prohibit selling an intoxicating hemp product “that bears the likeness or contains the characteristics of a realistic or fictional human, animal, or fruit, including artistic, caricature, or cartoon renderings,” according to the bill’s language.

“I put this bill in to get rid of the stuff that everybody agrees is bad,” Columbus Democratic state Sen. DeMora said. “Everybody agrees [intoxicating hemp products are] targeted to children to look like Skittles and Oreo cookies and that it’s unregulated… We need to act because this stuff is poisoning kids [and] making kids sick.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has previously asked lawmakers to regulate or ban delta-8 THC products.

“It’s a huge problem,” DeWine said talking to reporters on Monday. “There’s really no regulation at all. We need regulation. We need the legislature to take action on this. We’re also looking, frankly, at some things that I might be able to do without legislative action.”

DeMora thinks marijuana and hemp products should be dealt with separately.

“Hopefully this bill will, if nothing else, we can all agree on one thing—to get the bad stuff out of the hands of kids and stop the marketing toward kids,” he said.

The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

Ohio is one of about 20 states that does not have any regulations around intoxicating hemp products, according to an Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center study from November 2024.

This is one of a handful of bills in the Ohio legislature that are trying to regulate intoxicating hemp products.

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California Governor Signs Bill To Integrate Hemp And Marijuana Markets After Banning Intoxicating Cannabinoids Outside Of Dispensaries

The governor of California has signed a bill to integrate intoxicating hemp products into the state’s existing marijuana market—an attempt to consolidate the cannabis industry and prevent youth access to unregulated hemp.

After the legislation from Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) passed the Senate last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed it into law on Thursday.

“We are continuing to place the safety of every Californian first,” Newsom said. “For too long, nefarious hemp manufacturers have been exploiting loopholes to make their intoxicating products easily available to our most vulnerable communities—that stops today.”

This follows the governor’s emergency order last year that outright prohibited hemp products with any trace amounts of THC from being sold, which industry stakeholders warned would devastate the marketplace.

Under the newly signed bill, intoxicating hemp products that meet certain regulatory requirements would be able to be sold at licensed cannabis retailers with age restrictions and testing rules. But it’s unclear how that might ameliorate the hemp industry’s concerns, when adults and patients go to a store with the option to buy a broader array of marijuana products.

“Bad actors have abused state and federal law to sell intoxicating hemp products in our State. As the author of legislation that allowed the legal sale of non-intoxicating hemp CBD products, this is absolutely unacceptable,” Aguiar-Curry said. “AB 8 is a result of years of collaboration with this Administration, and I appreciate the Governor’s signature.”

“Our first job is to protect our kids and our communities,” she said. “With this bill, we’ll have responsible regulation, increase enforcement, and support struggling legal cannabis businesses against criminal competition.”

Nicole Elliott, director of the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), said the legislation represents “a critical step forward for California’s cannabis industry and for consumer safety.”

“By closing loopholes around intoxicating hemp products and bringing them under the same strict rules as cannabis, this legislation protects consumers, ensures fair competition for licensed businesses, and strengthens the integrity of our regulated marketplace,” she said. “AB 8 makes it clear that all intoxicating products must be held to the same important standards Californians expect.”

The key provisions of the law take effect in January 2028, mandating that consumable hemp products with cannabinoids other that CBD must comply with the state’s current medical and recreational marijuana laws.

A Senate analysis of the bill released last month said the measure would ban the sale of “synthetic cannabis products and inhalable cannabis products containing cannabinoids derived from hemp,” place restrictions on incorporating raw hemp extracts into foods and beverages and expand “the authority for state and local enforcement agencies to inspect, seize, and destroy unlawful cannabis products.”

This all follows Newsom announcing emergency regulations last year to outlaw hemp products with any “detectable amount of total THC.” Under that move, hemp products that don’t have THC are also limited to five servings per package, and sales are restricted to adults 21 and older.

The proposal came less than a month after the state legislature effectively killed a governor-backed bill that would have imposed somewhat similar restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids.

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Oregon Marijuana Business Files New Lawsuit Challenging Ban On Interstate Cannabis And Hemp Commerce

An Oregon marijuana business has filed a new federal lawsuit against the state, challenging the constitutionality of laws prohibiting interstate cannabis commerce.

After filing an initial suit in 2022—and later withdrawing it amid expectations of unspecified “big things” coming—the cannabis wholesaler Jefferson Packing House (JPH) filed a revised complaint on Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

The latest suit is lengthier than the original, and it makes additional arguments about the alleged illegality of state laws barring marijuana and hemp businesses from exporting products across state lines.

At issue in the case is the Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC) of the U.S. Constitution, which generally prevents states from imposing restrictions on interstate commerce in order to ensure competitiveness in the open market.

While marijuana remains federally illegal, the plaintiffs assert that the DCC still precludes Oregon from imposing trade restrictions between states.

“Oregon law harms JPH by increasing its operating costs and preventing it from taking advantage of economies of scale,” the filing states, adding that state statute also harms the business with respect to hemp, which was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

Barring exports of marijuana and hemp puts JPH “at a competitive disadvantage in the market,” the complaint says, because it can’t source cannabis products from out of state and can’t ship products outside of Oregon, “both of which limit its customer base and ability to offer a complete range of products at the best prices.”

State law “discriminates against interstate commerce by nakedly prohibiting such commerce, without any legitimate, non-protectionist purpose, and is therefore prohibited by the Dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” it says. “There is no constitutionally adequate reason for Oregon, or any other State, to bar the import or export” marijuana or hemp.

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Bipartisan Lawmakers Say Hemp THC Ban In Spending Bill Violates Congressional Rules, As They Prepare New Measure To Regulate Market

Bipartisan House lawmakers are pushing back against attempts to ban hemp THC products, arguing that it would “deal a fatal blow” to the industry and, as currently included in a spending bill, violates congressional rules. To that end, the members say there are plans in the works to introduce an alternative measure to regulate the market.

In a letter sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Friday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and 26 other members said the appropriations legislation that’s advancing in the House with the hemp ban provisions intact would upend the industry that’s emerged since the crop was legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

While the Senate ultimately stripped similar language from its version of the agriculture spending measure following a procedural protest from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), there’s still concern among stakeholders that it could wind up in the final package delivered to the president following bicameral negotiations.

If that were to happen, the lawmakers wrote that “it would deal a fatal blow to American farmers supplying the regulated hemp industry and small businesses, and jeopardize tens of billions of dollars in economic activity around the country.”

“Additionally, there are serious procedural concerns with how the language ended up in these bills,” they said. “This language has not been considered in a markup or hearing by any relevant authorizing committee and there was no public forum for members to express concerns with this language and preferred alternative legislation more appropriate for the relevant authorizing committees.”

Specifically, the letter says the inclusion of the hemp provisions in the House bill “clearly violates” a rule prohibiting language that changes existing law through general appropriations legislation.

“Perhaps most concerning is the characterization by proponents of this language that the bill will not negatively impact the industrial hemp industry,” it says, referring to comments from certain legislators such as Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who have championed the controversial proposal.

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Farmers Tell Mitch McConnell His Push To Ban Hemp Products With THC Will Cause ‘Catastrophic Consequences’

Dozens of hemp farmers from Kentucky are urging their state’s senior U.S. senator to back off from his push to recriminalize some products that are derived from their crops.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who successfully championed the federal legalization of hemp through the 2018 Farm Bill, has been working this year to roll back that policy by prohibiting hemp derivatives with a “quantifiable” amount of THC, saying that he never intended to allow a market for intoxicating cannabis products.

The recriminalization proposal has advanced in both the House and Senate this session, though a push by McConnell’s home state colleague, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), got the provision removed from their chamber’s bill ahead of its final passage. Paul has cautioned, however, that prohibitionist forces are working to include the ban in other legislative vehicles—which he said could potentially be enacted within weeks.

“If Congress moves to eliminate the end markets that make our crop viable, we will suffer immediate and catastrophic consequences,” the 58 farmers who have agreements to sell hemp crops they have harvested this season wrote to McConnell in the new letter on Monday. “We have taken out loans, hired the necessary help, planted the crop, and contracted with processors and/or brands. Any legislative change that pulls the rug out from under this market—especially mid-season—is a direct blow to our farms, families, and rural communities.”

The farmers, who are requesting an in-person meeting with McConnell, wrote that “hemp is the foundation of our diversified, sustainable farm operations that helps us weather tough commodity cycles, diversify away from tobacco and empower profit in an uncertain economy”—adding that its federal legalization in 2018 gave them a new crop with “real economic opportunity” for the “first time in decades.”

While the letter signatories do not support a ban along the lines of what McConnell has pushed in Congress this year—which they say would “empower the illicit market and destroy American farm income in the process”—they do back “responsible regulation” for the crop.

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New Texas Emergency Rules Ban Hemp Sales To People Under 21 In Line With Governor’s Executive Order

Texas officials have quickly adopted changes to the state’s hemp laws, consistent with the governor’s recent executive order, making it so people under the age of 21 will no longer be permitted to purchase consumable hemp products.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) issued an emergency rule that took effect on Tuesday, stipulating that no businesses licensed under the agency may sell cannabis to those under 21. Doing so will now result in an automatic license or permit cancellation.

Failing to check IDs to ensure that a patron is of age will also carry the penalty of an automatic license cancellation.

“This emergency adoption is necessary to help prevent minors from accessing and using consumable hemp products (CHP) that will negatively impact the minors’ health, which in turn negatively impacts the general welfare and public safety,” TABC said in a notice.

And while it was just two weeks ago that Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed an executive order laying out new rules for the hemp market, the agency said that the rules are being adopted on an “emergency basis” and take effect immediately “because an imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare requires adoption on fewer than 30 days’ notice.”

“The harms associated with cannabis/THC use by minors are well documented,” it said.

State statute says emergency rules can only be effective for up to 180 days, and TACB said it ‘intends to propose these or similar rules under the normal rulemaking process and will consider any additional action necessary in the event unforeseen issues arise with the adopted sections. Future rulemaking may also provide additional guidance.”

While the rules are actively in effect, the agency noted that it will begin enforcement on October 1.

The Texas Cannabis Collective, which strongly resisted recent proposals in the legislature to ban hemp with any amount of THC, said the TABC action “follows Governor Abbott’s decisive steps earlier this year” when he vetoed a Senate bill to recriminalize consumable cannabinoid products.

Meanwhile, Texas officials have separately taken another step toward implementing a law to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program—proposing rules to to let physicians recommend new qualifying conditions for cannabis and to create standards for allowable inhalation devices in line with legislation enacted by lawmakers and the governor earlier this year.

Last month, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) also posted a set of additional rules in the Register to increase the number of licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Texas under the recently enacted legislation.

DPS will ultimately be issuing 12 new licenses for dispensaries across the state. Currently there are only three. The additional licensees will go through a competitive process, with officials prioritizing Texas’s public health regions to optimize access.

The first round of licenses will be awarded to nine of 139 applicants who submitted their forms during an earlier application window in 2023. DPS will select those nine licensees on December 1. The 2023 applicants that didn’t receive a license, as well as any new prospective licensees, will have another shot at getting their license during a second round where awardees will be announced on April 1, 2026.

DPS has separately previewed future rulemaking to comply with the medical marijuana expansion law.

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