Welcome to our weekly roundup of CBD and hemp-related legal and regulatory news:

CBD

Medterra CBD seeks sanctions against Healthcare Resources Management Group over 'frivolous' claims

A Calif.-based hemp products merchant renewed its push for sanctions against a Fla. company it said has again brought "objectively frivolous" claims in connection with the purported theft of a secret formula for CBD topical cream. Medterra CBD told a Fla. federal judge that Healthcare Resources Management Group couldn't present any evidence of intellectual property theft because the retailer had never been given access to the CBD cream's recipe, which the Fla. company's attorneys should have known since these same claims had been litigated in an earlier lawsuit. Law360 (sub. req.)

Hemp

Ga. lawmakers, farmers aim to remove stigma around growing hemp

In 2020, Ga. farmers received the OK from state lawmakers to grow hemp legally for the first time in at least 50 years. Blue 42 Organics is one of 86 companies licensed to grow hemp in the state. Co-founder Henry Ostaszewski, a former college and pro football player, became interested in hemp's benefits for inflammation and anxiety when his former teammates lost their mobility and even their lives to sports-related injuries like CTE. State agriculture commissioner Gary Black said growing a new crop is hard, with or without the stigma. But he said the biggest hurdle is waiting on federal leaders to weigh in on what to classify the crop. Farmer Barry Smith has hired a doctor and financial advisor to ease minds and navigate gray areas in the law. Smith's team estimated hemp farmers can make somewhere between $5,000 to $150,000 on an acre of land, and the industry could create up to 6,000 jobs in two years. Farmers and Commissioner Black hope there is a life for hemp beyond CBD, envisioning how Ga. could become a hub for manufacturing hemp textiles and electric car parts. WSBTV

N.C. retailers, hemp organizations want to see regulations for Delta-8

When the farm bill passed in 2018, it came with restrictions including that all products made from hemp may not contain more than 0.3% THC. But some farmers have figured out a way to get around that using Delta-8, which can get users high. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable helped shape the legislation and knew many in Congress were not in favor of legalizing marijuana across the nation. But they were willing to legalize hemp, says Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, because hemp was not intoxicating. The roundtable is working with legislators in Raleigh to make the N.C. Department of Agriculture the agency to regulate hemp products. It could mean full restriction on Delta-8, or the product only being sold in dispensaries. The goal of the roundtable is to get something passed before the end of the session. Eleven states in the nation have banned Delta-8, and more have pending legislation to regulate or make the drug a banned controlled substance. CBS17

Colo. hemp industry maintains loophole with Delta 8

In Colo., Sen. Don Coram is one of the Senate sponsors on House Bill 1301, which is intended to regulate outdoor cultivation of cannabis. But on the third reading, Coram added an amendment that said it's illegal to sell or distribute products containing "intoxicating cannabinoids," including Delta-8, Delta-9 and Delta-10 THC. One of the House sponsors of HB 1301, House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar convened a conference committee that voted 5-1 to take the amendment out of the bill. Esgar acknowledged concerns that Delta-8 is a public health concern and that she heard its exclusion has created a loophole for the hemp industry. That's something she said she's willing to work on in the interim, possibly in a bill next year. But it doesn't belong in this bill, she stressed. Last month, the Colo. Department of Public Health and Environment, along with the state's Marijuana Enforcement Division, issued an alert to producers that contained a ban on Delta-8, Delta-9 and Delta-10 in food, cosmetics and dietary supplements. The alert was silent on concentrates, which are sold in dispensaries and some businesses marketed as herbal and vitamin shops. The Gazette

CBP says company suing over hemp shipment was actually drug smuggling

An Ore. hemp processor suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection over 3,000 pounds of seized plants was actually attempting to smuggle a large quantity of marijuana across the U.S. border, the government said. We CBD accused the CBP of improperly seizing hemp bound for a buyer in Switzerland, but the CBP told the court the plants were largely illegal marijuana – and We CBD was trying to fly it to Europe without declaring any of it. In a motion to dismiss We CBD's suit, the CBP said the company was suing over its own illegal activity. The vast majority of the plants tested with higher THC levels than is allowed in federally legal hemp, the CBP said. Alongside its motion to dismiss, the CBP filed a separate complaint seeking forfeiture of the hemp on the flight – which made up just under 550 pounds of the shipment, according to the agency. The company lied on the paperwork about its flight and didn't declare anything it was shipping, potentially committing fraud while it was moving drugs, the agency said. Law360 (sub. req.)

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