“Defendants’ have shown that delta-8 THC poses a credible danger to the Virginian population. There is a strong interest on the part of the public in protecting citizens from substances such as delta-8.”
By Graham Moomaw, Virginia Mercury
A federal judge in Northern Virginia has rejected an attempt to block the new Virginia law that imposes stricter limits on products containing intoxicating levels of THC.
The initial opinion, issued on Monday, denied a request by a group hemp businesses for an injunction which would have prevented officials from enforcing law. This means that the new rules will remain in place while the lawsuit proceeds.
The controversial bill passed earlier this year aimed to crack down on edibles, and other products that contained delta-8. This hemp-derived marijuana substitute was widely available in smokeshops across Virginia. The law imposed stiff fines on retail companies that continued to sell products exceeding total THC limits. This included both natural and synthetic forms.
U.S. District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said she wasn’t convinced by arguments that Virginia had overstepped their authority in order to regulate hemp, in a manner that was inconsistent with federal law and interfered interstate commerce.
Brinkema wrote that “on this record, defendants demonstrated that delta-8 is a credible danger to the Virginian population and there is strong public interest protecting citizens from substances such as delta-8 including vulnerable populations, like children, from poisonings and hospitalizations,” in a 27 page opinion. The decision was made by Virginia’s elected policymakers, and the court must respect their political and social welfare judgements.
The decision does not end the case, but it indicates that the hemp industry faces an uphill struggle as it attempts to combat the new law.
Northern Virginia Hemp and Agriculture is a retailer who claims to have lost 90 percent of their sales because of the new law. Franny’s Farmacy from North Carolina says that it’s no longer allowed to ship its products through or into Virginia. Rose Lane, an individual who claims that the law prevents her from getting delta-8 for her arthritis, has also filed a lawsuit.
The suit attacked the hemp laws from various angles. It argued that Virginia, by banning hemp products because it had legalized industrial hemp under federal law in 2018, effectively overruled the federal law.
Brinkema disagreed and concluded that federal hemp laws were not so broad that they prevented states from taking more specific or stricter action to regulate some types of hemp.
Brinkema wrote: “If Congress decides to legalize a substance, here industrial hemp, as defined by the delta-9 THC content, at the federal level in relation to the Controlled Substances Act that does not mean Congress has mandated the substance be legalized in every state.” “Nor does this mean that Congress mandated that every product that includes industrial hemp, as a single ingredient or derivative in a variety of products, must be legalized at the state level,” Brinkema wrote.
The judge also was not convinced by the claims of interstate commerce. She pointed out that Virginia still allows hemp businesses “to transport federally compliant products through Virginia”.
Brinkema stated that, while some may be concerned about a law which “threatens disrupt existing practices of hemp participants,” hemp businesses can choose to follow the new rules or buy “raw products” from outside Virginia in order to continue making delta-8, or they can “withdraw completely from Virginia’s marketplace.”
In order to make hemp sellers comply with the new laws, began to fine them six-figure sums .
The businesses who filed the lawsuit did not respond immediately to comments Tuesday.
Originally published by Virginia Mercury.
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