Federal Judge Overturns Part of New Jersey Law to Restrict Intoxicating Hemp Sales

Intoxicating hemp products were to be pulled from New Jersey store shelves on Saturday per the next stage of the rules signed into law last month by Gov. Phil Murphy (D).

The products — most typically seltzers containing hemp-derived delta-8 THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids — were sold prolifically in gas stations and liquor stores throughout the state and were not initially age-restricted by law. The new law sets the products’ age requirement at 21 and mandates that intoxicating hemp products only be sold by licensed cannabis retailers operating under the purview of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

But the rules face a legal challenge brought by a group of hemp companies who want to pare back the law to just the 21-year age requirement, and federal Judge Zahid Quraishi last week overturned a part of the law that banned out-of-state hemp products because it violated the federal dormant commerce clause, which prohibits interference with interstate commerce, Asbury Park reports.

The ruling came just days before the hemp products were to be pulled from store shelves statewide — but while the ruling is unlikely to stop the ultimate implementation of the new law, the state’s cannabis regulators announced that officials would be enforcing only the age restriction portion of the law while the latest decision is under review.