“Thousands of small business owners built enterprises, hired workers, and invested capital relying on that law,” said David Sergi, lead attorney for the hemp industry in the lawsuit. “DSHS does not have the constitutional authority to rewrite statutes or destroy an industry simply because it disagrees with legislative policy.”
A coalition of hemp industry organizations are filing an additional lawsuit against the state of Texas, claiming that a recently-enacted ban on certain THC products has led to massive job loss and created a monopoly for the state’s medical marijuana program.
According to KERA News, the lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of four hemp retailers.
The complaint, lodged in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, names the Department of State Health Services as a defendant. Attorneys for the hemp companies say that the agency overreached by classifying most hemp-derived substances as illegal, allegedly in violation of the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed them from the federal Controlled Substances Act.
“Thousands of small business owners built enterprises, hired workers, and invested capital relying on that law,” said David Sergi, lead attorney for the hemp industry in the lawsuit. “DSHS does not have the constitutional authority to rewrite statutes or destroy an industry simply because it disagrees with legislative policy.”
The lawsuit contends that the Texas hemp industry has already experienced “catastrophic” harm due to rescheduling, losing an estimated 36,000 jobs due to workforce reductions and rapidly-declining retail sales. In total, attorneys believe that the new law has led to billions of dollars in losses—losses that continue to mount.
KERA News notes that, among other claims, the lawsuit also argues that the Department of Health Services’ decision to focus only on hemp-related regulation has unlawfully curbed the market to the advantage of Texas’s medical marijuana program.
“We are asking the Court to uphold the Texas Constitution, protect thousands of Texas jobs, and keep policy decisions where they belong—with the elected representatives of the people,” Sergi said.
The hemp industry is continuing to litigate related claims against Texas. Earlier this month, three other organizations and businesses sued the DSHS—along with state Attorney General Ken Paxton—over the increased regulation of hemp.
“For more than seven years, Texans have built a multibillion-dollar hemp industry under laws that define these products as legal hemp,” said Andrea Steel, lead counsel in the original lawsuit. “Without any change to those laws, the State now says they’re Schedule I drugs, like heroin.”
The rescheduling of hemp products like delta-8 and delta-10 make possession of newly-illegal THC products a state-jail felony, carrying between 180 days in jail and 2 years in prison as a potential penalty, with offenders also facing fines of up to $10,000 per violation.
“Our Constitution does not allow the government to jail a person under a framework no one can make sense of,” Steel said. “Our clients are asking the federal court to protect Texans from their own confused government.”
Sources
Hemp industry files new lawsuit over Texas THC ban claiming job losses, medical marijuana monopoly
Texas hemp shops file lawsuit against state over new regulations on THC
Join the conversation!