A Tennessee hemp trade group announced its plan to sue the state over a new Department of Agriculture rule that would reportedly ban some intoxicating hemp products.
The new rule – which was announced by the DOA in September but won’t go into effect until Dec. 26 – would ban all hemp-based goods that, when burned, convert into higher levels of THCA than the federal limit of 0.3%, NewsNation reported.
The Tennessee Growers Coalition, a hemp trade organization, began raising money from its members on Oct. 1 to fund a legal fight against the rule, and so far it has accumulated a war chest of $10,200, a far cry from the organization’s goal of $60,000 to pay for legal bills, according to NewsNation.
The DOA said in a statement to the outlet that the rules were “crafted for operation of our regulatory programs for hemp and hemp-derived cannabinoid products.
“The Department’s authority for these rules and the allowable limit for THC and required testing method for hemp and hemp-derived products are prescribed by the legislature in state statutes,” the agency said in a statement earlier this month. “The permanent rules do not change those laws and the rules regulate, not ban, hemp and hemp-derived cannabinoid products, including THCA.”
Hemp companies, however, told NewsNation that the new rule would “devastate our industry,” given the popularity of intoxicating hemp goods.
“Us as a small business, it could wipe us out,” Jesse Hutcherson, CEO and co-owner of Green Star THC in Fairview told the outlet. He estimated that intoxicating hemp products make up as much as 80% of his store’s sales.
Sparta Smoke Shop owner James Goff also criticized the DOA for not having provided promised legal guidance for hemp retailers on what they are and aren’t allowed to sell once the rule kicks in.
“Having somebody sit down and say, ‘OK, this is what you can do, this is what you can’t do going forward,’ we haven’t had that yet,” Goff said, despite a pledge from DOA that guidance would be forthcoming.
The hemp coalition also asserted that the DOA basically ignored the 19,000 public comments submitted in response to the new rule.
An earlier legal fight between two hemp companies and a rural district attorney in southern Tennessee this year challenged D.A. Brent Cooper’s backing of the seizure of more than $1 million worth of hemp products after reportedly telling law enforcement officers that hemp was “the same damn thing” as marijuana. That suit was dismissed in July after both parties agreed to mediation; a mediation session is slated for Nov. 8, according to court records.
This latest legal fight is part of a nationwide trend of states cracking down – or attempting to crack down – on intoxicating hemp goods, following a surge in that niche sector after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp nationally. States including Arkansas, California, Missouri, New Jersey and New York have grappled with how exactly to regulate the proliferating products in order to keep them out of reach of minors, and all have faced legal pushback from hemp companies, who largely maintain that their businesses are now federally legal.
The new rule is slated to go into effect on Dec. 26. Read More