Marijuana Moment: Federal Judge Blocks Enforcement Of Hemp THC Product Ban Against Ohio Companies

[Tokeativity]

“While this case involves hemp products, it is really a win for businesses and consumers across America.”

By Phillip Smith, The American Hemp Monitor

A federal district court judge in Toledo ruled Monday that state officials are barred from enforcing the state’s ban on hemp-derived intoxicating cannabinoids in beverages, but only the 10 companies that filed a lawsuit against the rules and vendors who sell their products are protected from enforcement.

The legislature last year passed Senate Bill 56, which tightened the state’s voter-approved recreational marijuana law, but also included provisions defining most intoxicating hemp products as cannabis and barring companies outside the state from growing or selling hemp products. A handful of hemp companies filed suit against the state, challenging the constitutionality of the new law.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick had earlier approved a temporary restraining order barring the state from moving against those companies, and on Monday, finding the plaintiffs’ arguments compelling, he issued the preliminary injunction to last while the case is argued.

“What Senate Bill 56 has done is to exclude federally legal intoxicating hemp products from Ohio’s statutory definition of hemp, redefine them as illegal marijuana, and then to prohibit any company from cultivating or selling those products unless the company has a physical presence in the state of Ohio,” Helmick wrote.

“Because plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that that law impermissibly favors in-state companies over out-of-state companies in violation of the Constitution of the United States, I grant plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction,” the judge wrote.

The state provided no evidence that federal law expressly allowed states to favor in-state companies, Judge Helmick said. He also pointed to Supreme Court precedent holding that states cannot discriminate against interstate commerce when there are reasonable non-discriminatory alternatives.

“None of the defendants have rebutted plaintiffs’ assertion during the temporary restraining order hearing that the legislature considered implementing age minimums and potency testing for all intoxicating hemp products made available for sale in Ohio, and no defendant has explained why these non-discriminatory alternatives are inadequate to satisfy Ohio’s legitimate public health and safety concerns without discriminating against out-of-state companies,” the judge wrote.

Hemp company attorney Andy Mayle pronounced himself pleased with the ruling, which he called an “efficient and forceful explanation of how the state violated the federal Constitution” in approving Senate Bill 56.

“While this case involves hemp products, it is really a win for businesses and consumers across America because it explains how the federal Constitution prevents all states from banning products just because the products were manufactured in another state,” Mayle said.

“Just as our clients’ hemp products are protected from being discriminated against in Ohio, Heinz Tomato Ketchup made in Fremont or Whirlpool washing machines made in Clyde and Findlay cannot be banned from being exported to other states,” he continued. “This experience adds a little belated zest to our clients’ America 250 celebrations.”

Julie Pfeiffer, Ohio assistant attorney general and lead counsel in the case, had argued that since Congress had passed legislation regulating hemp (which will not go into effect until November), the Commerce Clause was not implicated. She also argued that allowing the hemp beverages to be sold would expose Ohioans to dangerous unregulated products, but she could not cite any poisonings back to the plaintiffs.

Judge Helmick didn’t buy those arguments. The state can try to make them again as it defends itself against the lawsuit later.

This story was first published by The American Hemp Monitor.

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