Hemp advocates file lawsuit to challenge California emergency regulations

The U.S. Hemp Roundtable and hemp farmers and businesses on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, challenging emergency rules that plaintiffs contend will shatter a burgeoning industry.

The verified petition and complaint was filed just one day after emergency regulations took effect in the Golden State that were issued by the California Department of Public Health.

“Gov. Newsom’s misguided efforts to destroy a thriving hemp industry — one that he helped create in signing AB 45 three years ago — clearly violate state and federal law,” U.S. Hemp Roundtable General Counsel Jonathan Miller proclaimed in a statement. “We are confident that the courts will agree that the governor does not come close to demonstrating an ‘emergency’ exists, and the devastation that he would unleash on hemp farmers, small businesses and product consumers must be forestalled.”

Today, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable anticipates requesting a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement of the regulations. According to the hemp trade group, the emergency regulations announced this month by Gov. Gavin Newsom would prohibit nearly all hemp products for adults, including most nonintoxicating CBD products.

A state law (AB 45) that passed in 2021 defined hemp products, but it did not discern between intoxicating and nonintoxicating cannabinoids, according to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable’s complaint.

“Significantly, at the core of the Department’s emergency regulations is a provision that goes far beyond the limits contemplated in AB 45 to ban all hemp products unless they contain no ‘detectable levels of THC,’” the lawsuit declared. “This draconian regulation alone will essentially devastate an emerging industry that consists largely of small business owners. It’s akin to requiring candy to stop containing sugar … starting tomorrow.”

In announcing the emergency regulations, Newsom cited the need to protect kids from the dangerous effects of unregulated THC. The emergency regulations discussed the need for an age requirement of 21 for the sale of certain industrial hemp food products, citing “ongoing brain development in adolescents and young adults” and studies showing “use of these products can negatively impact cognitive functions, memory and decision-making abilities in developing brains.”

“We will not sit on our hands as drug peddlers target our children with dangerous and unregulated hemp products containing THC at our retail stores,” Newsom declared in a Sept. 6 news release. “We’re taking action to close loopholes and increase enforcement to prevent children from accessing these dangerous hemp and cannabis products.”

The lawsuit was filed against the California Department of Public Health and its director, Tomás Aragón, who earned his medical degree at Harvard. Plaintiffs who joined the U.S. Hemp Roundtable include Cheech and Chong Global Holdings Inc., a manufacturer and seller of beverage products that contain hemp-derived THC; JuiceTiva, a distributor, manufacturer and seller of hemp juice powder supplement products that contain hemp-derived THCA and other hemp-derived cannabinoids; and Blaze Life LLC, a co-manufacturer/co-packer of beverage products that contain hemp-derived THC.

Others challenging the emergency regulations include Boldt Runners Corp., a distributor, manufacturer and seller of tobacco-free and nicotine-free oral pouches that contain hemp-derived CBD and hemp-derived THC; Lucky To Be Beverage Co. (Lucky to Be), a distributor, manufacturer and seller of beverage products that contain hemp-derived THC and other hemp products; and SunFlora Inc., a manufacturer and seller of ingestible gummies, tinctures, water solubles and seltzer products that contain hemp-derived THC and other hemp-derived cannabinoids.

The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the emergency regulations are invalid due to violation of the California Department of Public Health’s statutory authority, California Administrative Procedure Act, California Health and Safety Code, California Constitution and/or U.S. Constitution.

“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 of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable said.

The California Department of Public Health didn’t immediately respond after business hours on Tuesday to a request for comment from SupplySide Supplement Journal (formerly known as Natural Products Insider).