On October 30, 2023, in Northern Virginia Hemp and Agriculture LLC, et al., v. The Commonwealth of Virginia, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia refused to enjoin a Virginia statute, SB 903, aimed at curbing the production and distribution of products containing intoxicating chemical compounds derived from federally lawful hemp ("Hemp Synthesized Intoxicants" or "HSIs"). SB 903 imposes upon hemp products, including edibles and smokables, industrial hemp extracts, and any other consumable substance, a limit of no greater than .3% total THC concentration and no more than two milligrams of total THC per package or amount of cannabidiol that is no less than 25 times greater than the amount of total THC per package.
This restriction, referred to as a "Total THC Standard," is intended to prevent the sale to consumers of ingestible, smokable, and otherwise consumable products that contain intoxicants derived from federally lawful hemp that are the functional equivalent of the delta-9 THC in federally unlawful marijuana. Such products have proliferated since the 2018 Farm Bill because chemical processes can be used to convert the chemicals in hemp into intoxicating compounds like delta-8 THC.
The Court in No. VA Hemp determined that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claims because, among other things, the 2018 Farm Bill did not preempt states from regulating hemp products sold in their states.
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