Wyoming Hemp Shops File Lawsuit Seeking to Reverse
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An agricultural organization and a group of hemp retailers have filed a lawsuit against the state of Wyoming. This comes after the state’s legislators enacted the ban at a budget session earlier this year.
In their suit, the entities claim that the state’s ban on hemp intoxicants such as delta-8 THC is unconstitutional. The owners of Mountain High Wellness, Richard and Sarah McDaniel, are among the plaintiffs.
In a statement, the McDaniels revealed that they were fighting to keep small businesses open, adding that the hemp community wasn’t going to back down until people in the state had the chance to decide what could be used as alternatives to big pharma.
A loophole in state and federal law allowed delta-8 THC to proliferate the market as a substitute for marijuana. The loophole occurred after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which defined hemp as cannabis sativa plant with no more than 0.3% concentration of delta-9 THC.
Other plaintiffs include Greybull River Farms, an agricultural operation, as well as retailers such as CinD’s CBD and Vape, Flower Castle Elevated Wellness, Dr. Chronic’s Concentrates, Capitol Botanicals and Up In Smoke II. Collectively, the plaintiffs claim that the ban is vague and broad, impedes interstate transportation and illegally narrows hemp’s federal definition.
The filing states that Senate File 0032 bans hemp that contains any synthetic substance, an overly broad term that includes psychoactive compounds such as CBD, which do not contain THC. In addition to suing the state, the plaintiffs are suing the governor, attorney general, 21 county and prosecuting attorneys, the director of the state’s Department of Agriculture, and the district attorneys in Natrona and Laramie counties.
The group of plaintiffs was organized by Mandy Flint, with members of the state’s hemp community also contributing a $35,000 retainer for Domonkos & Thorpe Law Office. They are also receiving assistance from Justin Swanson of Bose Law and Philip Snow of MC Nutraceuticals.
Stores that rely on sales of delta-8 THC were considering selling all their products or closing, as co-owner of Platte Hemp Sam Watt stated in May. With the lawsuit now in full swing, Platte Hemp and many others, such as the Green Room and PolyXtracts, have jumped on the bandwagon.
It should be noted that marijuana is still illegal in the state of Wyoming, despite a 2020 survey conducted by the University of Wyoming determining that 85% of residents supported medical marijuana legalization and another 54% were in favor of adult-use legalization.
This pushback against efforts to ban intoxicants made from hemp is playing out in several jurisdictions, such as Florida. Established companies such as Astrotech Corp. (NASDAQ: ASTC) will be keeping tabs on how these reactions influence or shape policy at the federal level.
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