Federal judge blocks state's new law banning Delta 8 THC products

Producers, marketers and consumers of Delta 8 THC products received some welcome news Thursday after a federal judge blocked the state from enforcing a law -- Act 629 of 2023 -- banning the sale of such products in the state.

U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson issued the ruling in the wake of a motion hearing held Aug. 23 in federal court in Little Rock after a group of four cannabis-related businesses sued the state on the grounds that the law violated the U.S. Constitution's Commerce and Supremacy clauses.

Act 629, passed in the 2023 regular session of the General Assembly, sought to ban the production and sale of products containing Delta 8, Delta 9 and Delta 10 and other THC isomers inside the state of Arkansas. Such products have been legal federally since 2018 under provisions contained in the 2018 Farm Bill that removed hemp containing less than 0.3% dry weight Delta 9 THC as a controlled substance. According to federal law, hemp containing more than 0.3% dry weight Delta 9 is classified as marijuana and remains prohibited federally, despite 38 states -- including Arkansas -- having legalized marijuana for medical use and 21 of those states and the District of Columbia giving the OK for recreational use.

On July 31, the day before the state's ban on Delta 8 products went fully into effect, a group of hemp product marketers in Arkansas, Colorado and Texas filed suit in federal court in Arkansas seeking to overturn the law and asking the court to block enforcement through a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction while the lawsuit moves forward.