Tennessee Judge Will Rule On Blocking State’s Ban On Hemp-Derived Products By Christmas Eve

“If the rules do go into effect, much of the industry…may no longer exist.”

By Anita Wadhwani, Tennessee Lookout

A Nashville judge said she will rule no later than Christmas Eve on a bid by the Tennessee hemp industry to block state rules from taking effect that would criminalize the sales of popular products.

The state’s hemp manufacturers, distributors and retailers will suffer irreparable harm should the new rules be allowed to take effect on December 26, as scheduled—leading, overnight, to mass layoffs and storefront closures, their lawyers argued in court Monday.

“If the rules do go into effect, much of the industry…may no longer exist,” said Alex Carver, an attorney representing Tennessee Healthy Alternatives Associations.

It is one of two industry groups seeking to temporarily block the rules while their legal challenge to set them aside permanently plays out in court. The Tennessee Growers Coalition is also challenging the rules.

Joshua Minchin, an attorney representing the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, conceded the state’s hemp businesses would suffer irreparable harm when the rules take effect, but argued the rules are required by law.

Minchin said a 2023 Tennessee law—which imposed first-time regulations such as age purchasing restrictions and business owner license requirements—was correct to also impose testing requirements on certain hemp products, which are typically smoked or vaped. The products can then produce a similar intoxicating effect as marijuana, which is outlawed in Tennessee.

At issue, however, is what the 2023 law actually requires.

State agriculture officials have argued the law—when read in conjunction with laws regulating hemp agriculture—requires them to test all consumer hemp products for THCA concentration levels, rejecting products that produce more than trace amounts and referring retailers or manufacturers of these products to law enforcement.

Hemp industry lawyers have argued that state agriculture officials are exceeding their authority in formulating the rules, noting THCA is not an illegal substance in Tennessee. They have accused state agriculture officials of criminalizing a product the state legislature has never voted to outlaw.

Alex Little, an attorney representing the Tennessee Growers Coalition, also argued that the 2023 law, which regulates “hemp-derived products,” cannot be interpreted to apply to unadulterated hemp products—often sold in the form of the plant’s flower and smoked by consumers.

Hemp products can be sold in multiple forms, including gummies, vape pens and raw, dried flowers. The flowers, Little argued, are not hemp derivatives in the same way as gummies and vape pens. “Hemp cannot be derived from itself,” he said.

Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles told lawyers at the end of a nearly three-hour hearing that “my mind is really made up” but did not indicate how she will rule.

This story was first published by Tennessee Lookout.