New Jersey Officials Try to Stop Lawsuit Opposing State’s New Hemp Law
New Jersey officials are trying to stop a lawsuit filed by state hemp businesses in response to a new law restricting hemp sales. The sequence of events is as follows.
- The New Jersey Governor signed a law banning New Jersey businesses from selling hemp products until they obtained a cannabis license. The law made it illegal to sell any product with a detectable amount of THC to anyone under 21 years old. It also requires businesses selling intoxicating hemp products to be licensed and overseen by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission and to pull hemp products from shelves within 30 days since retailers will not be licensed yet.
- Hemp businesses joined to file a lawsuit claiming the new law violates the federal 2018 Farm Bill, which authorized hemp farming and distribution. The lawsuit asks the judge to halt enforcement of the new law until the lawsuit is addressed.
- New Jersey officials have asked the judge in a court filing to toss the lawsuit, saying it rejected the claims made in the lawsuit.
The joint lawsuit claims that the bill does not adequately define terms, the language is confusing and vague and the state bill effectively criminalizes hemp. The businesses are also concerned that requiring the removal of hemp products within 30 days and preventing the sale of products until the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission develops regulations will decimate the state’s hemp industry.
The state is rejecting the claim that the new law violates the Farm Bill on the basis that federal law allows for local regulations. The state is confident that the law is clear and unambiguous, and that the terms used in the law are well-known in the industry, so there is no confusion about what they mean.
The state’s legal brief says,
“They cannot seriously claim they lack fair notice of what those common industry terms mean. When a statute regulating an industry uses a word that has a meaning ordinarily known to those in the industry, a court should give the statutory term that meaning.”
A critical issue is that delta-9 THC was the only known psychoactive cannabinoid in hemp products when the Farm Bill was passed. Today, there are chemically altered cannabinoids like delta-8 and delta-10 that are psychoactive and intoxicating and are not addressed in laws and regulations. There is little research on these cannabinoids showing they are safe to consume, and there are producers now selling hemp products that contain contaminants. New Jersey is trying to get a handle on the types of cannabinoid products sold and stop minors from being able to access unsafe hemp products with THC.
Interestingly, when Governor Phil Murphy signed the law, he noted that it was flawed. He decided to sign it after talking to supporters and critics between its passage and his signing. One of his concerns is that the bill does not require alcohol licensees selling intoxicating hemp products to comply with the numerous regulatory requirements cannabis businesses must adhere to.
He had other serious concerns but signed it anyway, writing in his statement that “…the status quo poses an immediate risk to health and safety, as these unregulated intoxicating hemp products are widely available to minors. Because the bill would address this present danger, I have concluded that the wiser course is to sign the bill now and commit to working with the Legislature to address the technical issues and other challenges in separate legislation.”
Understanding the goal is to regulate unsafe hemp products, it does seem patently unfair to require hemp producers and sellers who have rigorously followed the law and are not selling delta-8 and delta-9 products to remove all of their products from shelves. It would seem the new law could have specifically addressed only synthetically produced cannabinoids since there is extensive research available on delta-9 THC, which is already highly regulated.
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