Federal Judge Dismisses Challenge to Wyoming Hemp Ban

A federal judge in Wyoming last week dismissed the lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on intoxicating hemp products, WyoFile reports. Judge Kelly Rankin dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought back to the court; however, plaintiffs are appealing the ruling to the 10th Circuit Court. 

In the ruling, Rankin accepted the state’s motion to dismiss for many of the same reasons he dismissed the plaintiff’s request for a temporary injunction. In that ruling, Rankin said the “Public interest is best served” by denying the injunction.  

“The fact that Plaintiffs are unhappy with the substances [the ban] prohibits, does not make the law vague.” — Rankin, in the decision, via WyoFile 

Rankin also ruled the only proper defendants in the case were the Wyoming attorney general and Wyoming Department of Agriculture director and that plaintiffs could not name the governor or state.

The plaintiffs, a group of hemp businesses, had already filed an appeal in the 10th Circuit Court challenging Rankin’s denial of the injunction. 

The ban took effect in July. Under the law, it is illegal to produce, process, or sell hemp or hemp products containing more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis when using post‑decarboxylation or similarly reliable testing methods and to add, alter, insert, or otherwise include any synthetic substance into hemp or hemp products produced, processed, or sold.