Hempwire writes
Hemp Trade Association filed a suit in Cole County Circuit Court to stop this ban from taking effect. This comes after the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services issued a memo to food retailers detailing how the ban would be imposed. The association’s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, stated that the memo shed light on what the state wanted to do, noting that it was illegal.
In their argument, leaders in the hemp industry argued that the order banned products which had undergone lab testing, weren’t attractive to minors, and were only sold to consumers aged 21 and above. The order, as per the memo, directs regulators to identify edibles that contain unregulated psychoactive products as adulterated, poisonous and deleterious.
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This contradicts the law, which stipulates that food shouldn’t be considered adulterated solely for containing a commodity of industrial hemp or hemp itself. This clause was added to the state’s law after Congress legalized hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill.
Hatfield revealed that in their defense, they would highlight how the department was acting ultra vires by banning psychoactive cannabinoid hemp products across the board. He added that an executive order couldn’t trump Missouri law, particularly when there weren’t administrative rules in place to substantiate their claims.
In other news, emergency rules proposed by the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control were rejected by Jay Ashcroft, Missouri’s secretary of state. The rules would have given the division the authority to enforce the embargo imposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services (HSS) at premises licensed to sell alcohol or tobacco.
According to state law, HSS regulators will have to visit each individual retailer and place an embargo tag on products deemed adulterated. Hatfield notes the department has no authority to remove things off retailers’ shelves.
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Missouri Hemp Trade Association Sues to Block Governor’s Ban of THC Drinks, Foods
