In the days of the Armada, a fleet of warships, the scuttlebutt was the rumor or gossip that would spread throughout the ship. Today, Armada Law Corp presents The Scuttlebutt, a daily summery of news articles that people within the cannabis, hemp and plant medicine industries are chatting about along with links to the full articles.
In today’s news:
#hempderived – “An Arkansas federal judge has granted an injunction blocking state officials from enforcing a new law targeting hemp-derived intoxicants, delivering an early win to vaping companies that argued that the policy was preempted by the federal Farm Bill.
In a decision issued Thursday, the court wrote that the hemp companies that brought the action were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the challenged Arkansas law, Act 629, was preempted by the landmark 2018 bill that legalized hemp nationwide.
“Clearly, under the 2018 Farm Bill, Arkansas can regulate hemp production and even ban it outright if it is so inclined,” U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson wrote. “The legislature seems to have tried to keep the parts of the program it likes (purely industrial uses) and eliminate the parts it doesn’t (human consumption).”
The decision continued, “That may very well be an acceptable distinction as it applies to the state’s criminal code, but changing definitions in a federal program, which it has already fully joined, is not a constitutionally valid way to do it.”
#californiacannabis – “Cannabis cultivator Original Balboa Caregivers owes one of the companies it’s blaming for losing its license more than $1.3 million in back rent, the owner of the building Balboa’s failed business operated out of told a California state court in a newly filed counterclaim.
9419 Mason Partners LLC’s counterclaims hit the docket in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, accusing Original Balboa of skipping out on years’ worth of rent and violating a settlement agreement between itself, the cannabis cultivator and SSL Investments, the company that has been accused of frittering away Original Balboa’s funds.
The settlement saw Mason Partners forgive the debt, but the company said Original Balboa violated the terms of that settlement when it sued Mason Partners and SSL early in 2022.
Part of that agreement gave SSL the rights to all of Original Balboa’s claims against third parties, according to Mason Partners’ counterclaims.
#hempderived – “Two hemp businesses and a private citizen are challenging a Virginia law that instituted tougher limits on hemp products in Virginia in federal court, saying the new rules cause financial harm to hemp businesses and interfere in interstate commerce.
The law, which went into effect July 1, set the maximum amount of THC in hemp products at 0.3 percent concentration and 2 milligrams per package. This cutoff has made hundreds of products placed on shelves before July illegal and subject to fines if sold.
The lawsuit by hemp product retailer Northern Virginia Hemp and Agriculture, hemp customer Rose Lane and North Carolina-based hemp producer and distributor Franny’s Operations argues that if not halted, the law “will cause millions of dollars of irreparable harm” and “cause the Banned Products to be unavailable in the Commonwealth, exacerbating potential health problems to thousands of Virginians.”
The plaintiffs argue that the state’s definition of legal hemp conflicts with the federal definition—cannabis with less than 0.3 percent of specifically delta-9 THC content. Virginia’s law, in contrast, defines legal hemp products as those with less than 0.3 percent total THC content, which includes not just the most common delta-9, but also the milder delta-8 strain and all other natural and synthetic isomers combined.
Continue Reading: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/lawsuit-seeks-to-undo-virginias-0-3-total-thc-limit-on-hemp-derived-cannabis-products/
#californiacannabis – “California has hit several cannabis companies with a lawsuit accusing them of selling “illegal inhalable” hemp goods and failing to warn consumers that the Delta-9 containing products could cause birth defects and cancer.
The complaint accuses nine companies of violating the warning provisions of Prop 65 and some of them of selling inhalable or smokable hemp products, a violation of Assembly Bill 45, which was made into law in October 2021. The state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement issued Friday that the public must be made aware of the hazards of inhalable hemp.
“I want to be clear: The sales of industrial hemp products that do not comply with California law and the illegal sale of inhalable hemp in California will not be tolerated,” Bonta said. “The California Department of Justice will continue to protect the legitimate businesses who are operating responsibly in this space. There is no room for illegal inhalable hemp products in our state.”
#psychedelics – “A San Francisco lawmaker’s bill to decriminalize plant-based psychedelics, including “magic mushrooms,” has passed its final legislative hurdle. Now it’s up to Governor Gavin Newsom.
The Senate approved Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 58 on Thursday. Newsom hasn’t indicated whether he will sign the bill into law.
The proposal would remove criminal penalties for personal possession and use of psilocybin and psilocyn found in psychedelic mushrooms; dimethyltryptamine or DMT, used in the hallucinogenic tea ayahuasca, and mescaline, but not peyote.
The bill would also set in motion an https://armadalawyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/blog-03-1.jpgistrative process aimed at allowing psychedelics in therapeutic use.
“Veterans and anyone suffering from PTSD and depression should not face criminal penalties for seeking relief,” Wiener said in a statement. “Plant-based psychedelics are non-addictive and show tremendous promise at treating some of the most intractable drivers of our nation’s mental health crisis.”