Federal Appeals Court Deals Another Blow to Hemp Products In Virginia

They found that Virginia’s hemp product restrictions do not violate federal law
On January 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that Virginia’s hemp product restrictions do not violate federal law. The ruling is the latest defeat for the Virginia hemp industry’s efforts to overturn Virginia S.B. 903, a law intended to prohibit the sale of intoxicating hemp products like delta-8 and delta-10 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) gummies and beverages in the Commonwealth.
As we previously discussed, Virginia adopted S.B. 903 to address the growth of an intoxicating hemp market in the wake of a change made to federal law by the 2018 Farm Bill. Under federal law, “marijuana” is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and cannot be lawfully manufactured, distributed, or sold. In the 2018 Farm Bill, however, Congress carved out “hemp” and “[THC] in hemp” from the CSA’s definition of “marijuana.” Specifically, the 2018 Farm Bill defined “hemp” as “the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 [THC] concentration of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis.” Congress capped delta-9 THC at 0.3% in hemp because delta-9 THC has long been recognized as the primary cannabinoid produces psychoactive effects and causes users to feel “high.”
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