Arizona Judge Rejects Bid to Block Hemp Product Crackdown

An Arizona judge last week rejected a legal request to block new restrictions from Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) on intoxicating hemp products, AZ Central reports.

The Hemp Industry Trade Association of Arizona filed the lawsuit on April 21, arguing that the production and sale of THC-infused hemp products is legal under state and federal law. The plaintiffs also argued that the attorney general’s proposed changes would wipe out the industry, costing jobs and ruining businesses. But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner denied the motion for a restraining order last Thursay, the day the new rules took effect.

According to an opinion issued by AG Mayes last year, people who sell intoxicating hemp products in Arizona could face criminal penalties and fines of up to $20,000 per item sold. The attorney general clarified the changes in a follow-up opinion on March 24 and gave hemp businesses one month to adjust to the new mandate.

“All THC-infused edible products cannot be sold in Arizona by an unlicensed entity. Even if such products are legal under the Farm Bill of 2018, federal law does not preempt Arizona’s more stringent State laws.” — Mayes, in the follow-up opinion

AG spokesperson Richie Taylor said in the report, “the judge made the right decision in denying the TRO. Arizona law is clear: intoxicating THC products must be sold through licensed dispensaries, not convenience stores or smoke shops.”

Sully Sullivan, executive director for the Hemp Industry Trade Association of Arizona, told AZ Central, “We didn’t secure the temporary win today, but the Court did something just as important: it opened the door for our voices to be heard in full.”

While law enforcement can enact the crackdown immediately after the judge’s ruling, the hemp industry’s legal challenges will remain.