Virginia Hemp Firms Sue to Block 2mg THC Cap Before August 15

# Virginia Hemp Firms Sue to Block 2mg THC Cap Before August 15

INLAND ATLANTIC, August 4, 2026: Seven Virginia hemp companies asked a federal judge on July 31 to block a state limit of 2 milligrams of total THC per package that takes effect August 15, arguing in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia that the restriction strips millions of dollars of lawfully acquired inventory of all value without compensation.

The plaintiffs are Northern Virginia Hemp & Agriculture, Cypress Hemp, Redfern Hemp Co. and Redfern Market, Pure Shenandoah, Kultivate Wellness, District Hemp Botanicals and Simply Hemp, according to a copy of the filing reported by the Outlaw Report. They are represented by former state senator J. Chapman Petersen and have named Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Attorney General Jay Jones, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Green, the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority and several local Commonwealth's Attorneys as defendants.

The cap comes from House Bill 30, the biennial budget signed June 28, which eliminated a 2023 provision allowing hemp products to exceed 2 milligrams of total THC if they maintained a ratio of at least 25 parts CBD to one part THC. VDACS notified registered hemp businesses of the change by email on July 6, giving operators 40 days.

The complaint raises takings, due process and equal protection claims, and argues that measuring THC per package rather than by concentration produces arbitrary results: a one-ounce tincture containing 1.9 milligrams of total THC remains lawful while a twelve-ounce beverage containing 2.1 milligrams becomes a criminal offense. "A metric that permits the more concentrated product while criminalizing the more diluted one is not a public-safety line; it is an arbitrary one," the filing states. Northern Virginia Hemp & Agriculture says 85 percent of its portfolio is banned on August 15, leaving more than $735,000 in inventory commercially worthless after a $120,000 investment in a beverage canning line and the loss of a statewide Total Wine distribution agreement. Cypress Hemp puts its exposure at $1.43 million of $1.82 million in inventory. The suit seeks temporary and permanent injunctions barring enforcement and inventory seizure.

One day earlier, Jones announced a Regulated Products Enforcement Unit inside the attorney general's office covering vaping products, hemp-derived intoxicants, THC and kratom. Inspectors will monitor retailers, run compliance checks and coordinate with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, and the office may pursue civil penalties against manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Jones said many new intoxicating products "include dangerous or illegal ingredients and are deceptively packaged, labeled, and marketed to consumers." No staffing level or budget has been announced. VDACS found violations at 82 percent of the retailers it inspected in 2024.

Delaware moved the opposite direction. Gov. Matt Meyer signed House Bill 373 on July 23, The Marijuana Herald reported, permitting off-premises hemp THC beverage sales by licensed package stores and retail marijuana stores, with certain licensed microbreweries also able to manufacture and sell after state authorization. Single-serving containers are capped at 10 milligrams of delta-9 THC, multi-serving packages at 60 milligrams and 750-milliliter bottles at 170 milligrams. Third-party and mail delivery are prohibited. Most provisions take effect October 21; a tax of $0.50 per single-serving container and $8.50 per 750-milliliter bottle begins February 1, 2027. The bill passed the Senate 18-3 and cleared the House on concurrence 38-2. The enacted retail channel is broader than a July 22 Office of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner summary indicated, which described package stores and microbreweries without reference to marijuana retailers.

North Carolina's House returned to Raleigh on August 4 with the House Bill 328 conference report awaiting a floor vote. The measure would bar hemp products containing more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight or more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per serving and limit sales to people 21 and older. A newly formed coalition, NC Hemp Businesses for Responsible Regulation, wrote to House members on July 30 urging rejection, estimating the state's hemp industry at $3.2 billion in annual economic impact and 16,000 jobs and saying the threshold "wipes out 95% of ALL consumable hemp products, including most non-intoxicating ones," according to WUNC. Signatories include NoDa Brewing, Natty Greene's Brewing Company, Trophy Brewing, Foothills Brewing and the distributor Tryon Distributing. The letter says roughly 40 percent of the state's craft breweries sell hemp products or are preparing to.

Operators rallied in Raleigh on August 3. Reilly Dunn, who owns the Raleigh hemp beverage producer Groovewagon with his wife and eight employees, told WRAL the bill "just ends my business come November," and compared the threshold to permitting beer only at 0.1 percent alcohol. Adrian Larrea, co-founder of the Raleigh brand Haze Beverages, said the industry supports an age-21 restriction. Rep. Reece Pyrtle, R-Rockingham, and state law enforcement leaders scheduled a news conference backing the bill for August 4, following a July 27 joint memo from sheriffs, police chiefs, the State Bureau of Investigation and the district attorneys. Because the measure is a conference report, members cannot amend it and must vote it up or down. Speaker Destin Hall has said the Republican caucus has not decided whether to bring it forward.

Federal action could reset the timeline both states are working against. Senate Appropriations leaders released continuing resolution text on August 2 that would push most of the federal hemp-definition changes from November 12 to December 11, Forbes reported, with a carve-out keeping the original date for synthetic cannabinoids not capable of being naturally produced by a cannabis plant. The House passed its own stopgap on July 20 without a hemp extension. Charlotte-based cbdMD said on August 3 that its portfolio would be protected under the Senate text.

Separately, Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, is circulating a seven-page draft, obtained by Marijuana Moment, that would delay the restrictions until one year after the Food and Drug Administration publishes a list of known cannabinoids and issues guidance defining the term "container," both statutorily due in February and still outstanding. The draft would also set a federal age-21 sales limit and require that consumable hemp products be cultivated and processed domestically. Comer has not filed it. He is the second Kentucky Republican with a hemp vehicle this session, alongside Rep. Andy Barr, whose Lawful Hemp Protection Act was introduced July 22. Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told Kentucky Public Radio that Barr's bill "almost certainly will not pass before that November deadline" and that an extension has to come first.

Kentucky has its own missed deadline. Senate Bill 202 required the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to promulgate cannabis-infused beverage regulations on or before July 1. No promulgation has been confirmed five weeks later, leaving the Cabinet for Health and Family Services rules and a 5-milligram-per-12-ounce serving cap in force by default. Tennessee's Alcoholic Beverage Commission licensing regime, in full effect since the same date, has produced no publicly reported enforcement actions.

Attention now turns to whether the Western District of Virginia rules on the preliminary injunction before August 15, and whether the North Carolina House takes up the conference report this week.