1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

Early this mo, hemp industry plaintiffs asked fed courts in 2 southern states to allow them to walk away from lawsuits that sought to block enforcement of restrictions on the biz. In Louisiana, those industry members had already revised their complaint twice in 9 mos. So the suit never moved past motion-to-dismiss phase and the court accepted the request, dismissing the suit yesterday in a way that allows each party to pay their own costs and perhaps for plaintiffs to return with a new lawsuit. On the other hand, regulators in neighboring Arkansas asked a fed court to deny essentially the same request from hemp industry plaintiffs on Fri. And separately, an appeal in a similar suit between hemp industry plaintiffs and New Jersey remains on hold at 3rd Circuit as they keep trying to a hammer out a resolution. Recall, the 8th Circuit reversed a lower court ruling on the Ark suit in Jun, lifting a preliminary injunction that blocked the state from enforcing heavy restrictions on intoxicating hemp signed into law in 2023. That near 2-yr holding pattern played a key role in Texas Gov Greg Abbott's surprise veto of that state's near total ban on hemp, issued just days before the 8th Circuit ruling. Ark is not preempted by 2018 Farm Bill, the appeals court found in agreement with the state. So now, the district court should follow that mandate and not simply let plaintiffs drop the suit, Ark argued last wk. The parties have been at it too long to just let the issue go now, they wrote. And accepting plaintiffs' position would allow them to come back and refile with similar claims, an alternative that should be blocked, the state explained.The district court's decision to accept the plaintiff's position was much simpler in Louisiana. After they filed a 2nd amended complaint in Jul, the state asked the court to pause the case until Oct. Its logic: Congress could significantly revise how fed law deals with hemp and fundamentally alter the nature of claims based largely on the 2018 Farm Bill. No dice, the court responded, apparently about as skeptical that fed lawmakers will actually come to some consensus on the issue as most everybody else. So Louisiana filed a 3d motion to dismiss the suit, once again arguing that it's free and clear to regulate intoxicating products containing hemp-based THC, just as numerous other states have in the last couple yrs (and the 8th Circuit agreed). A couple wks later in early Sep, the plaintiffs filed their motion for voluntary dismissal and the court agreed to let it go yesterday.Maryland Appeals Court Clears State to Enforce License Requirement for Hemp Sales, Prohibition on Synthetics Yet another court removed the legal handcuffs preventing state regulators from enforcing restrictions on intoxicating hemp mkt this mo. Last wk, Maryland's Appellate Ct lifted a preliminary injunction granted by a lower state court in Oct 2023, allowing the state's Alcohol, Tobacco & Cannabis Commission (ATCC) to enforce a series of provisions of a law passed that Jul. Just 3 days after ruling, ATCC issued a notice explaining the kinds of violations it now seeks to correct, Cannabis Business Times reported.First and foremost, sales and distribution of intoxicating hemp products with more than 0.5 mg of THC per serving or 2.5 mg per package requires a license from the state's cannabis admin, the regulators reminded. And in addition to packaging, labeling and advertising restrictions, all synthetic cannabinoids are now prohibited in Maryland. The ruling specifically calls out that "hemp-derived psychoactive products, so-called Delta-8 and Delta-10 THC, are now and have always been illegal in Maryland," largely because they "are derived from a chemical process." The law passed in mid-2023 sought to bar products "not derived from naturally occurring biologically active chemical constituents," CBT wrote citing the ruling. (This story appeared yesterday and today in our sibling letter Insights Express.)

CANNABIZ: Hemp Plaintiffs Drop Suit in Louisiana but Efforts Rebuffed on Dismissal Sought in Arkansas; Maryland Regulatory Regime Set to Go

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