An O’ahu, Hawaii business is suing the state over hemp laws that took effect at the start of the year, Aloha State Daily reports. The federal lawsuit claims that the new rules have made it illegal for Lance Alyas, founder of O‘ahu Dispensary and Provisions, LLC, to sell about 80% of the products that were previously allowed.
The lawsuit contends that the regulations place an undue burden on out-of-state commerce and that the state’s efforts to seize or destroy property violate due process.
In 2020, state lawmakers passed a bill to align its hemp laws with those codified in the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which allowed hemp products with 0.3% delta-9 THC; however, in 2021, the state Department of Health (DOH) enacted regulations that define hemp based on total THC concentration, rather than the 0.3% delta-9 threshold. In the lawsuit, Alyas claims the deviations from federal law criminalize products that would be legal under federal standards.
Last year, Hawaii lawmakers passed a bill that requires all hemp distributors to register with the DOH’s Office of Medical Cannabis Control and Regulation beginning in 2026. Under the law, businesses are required to register with the agency to sell any hemp products, and registered vendors that sell products that don’t meet the state’s testing standards can be fined up to $10,000 per offense, have their registration suspended, and have their products destroyed by law enforcement.
Alyas claims that since the company’s 2023 founding it has been targeted by “sting operations” by law enforcement even though all of the products he sells meet the federal definition of hemp.
State Attorney General Anne Lopez and DOH Director Kenneth Fink have moved to have the case dismissed, arguing that Alyas has no credible claim he has been harmed by the laws or regulations.
Last year, federal lawmakers passed a bill that will effectively ban most hemp products that are now available due to the 2018 Farm Bill. The new federal rules exclude products that include THC “synthesized or manufactured outside of” the cannabis plant with more than 0.3% of THC and “any intermediate hemp-derived cannabinoid products which are marketed or sold as a final product or directly to an end consumer for personal or household use” from the federal definition of hemp. Those rules take effect on November 12.
