Hemp Businesses Undeterred by Idaho Transportation Setback

An unexpected federal court ruling declining to order Idaho to release a shipment of hemp that officers seized back in January has left the industry concerned, but businesses have vowed to continue shipping hemp to various states.

That ruling came regardless of the legal opinion of the USDA to the effect that interstate commerce or transportation of hemp was legal after the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law. However, the court argued that the 2018 Farm Bill could only be fully implemented once the USDA releases the rules under which states are to establish hemp programs.

Hemp advocates and companies have vowed to continue shipping hemp and hemp derivatives across state lines even as they hope that different states will recognize the interstate transportation of hemp as a legal activity.

Attorneys also agree that businesses can continue transporting hemp, although they have to be careful to avoid passing through the states, such as Idaho and South Dakota, which have not yet legalized hemp and therefore regard it as marijuana.

The industry cannot standstill as they wait for the USDA to release its rules that were initially scheduled to be out in August but the agency delayed the process due to complications inherent in setting hemp testing standards.

While it may take a few more months for the USDA to release its rules, the industry is ramping up its activities and the regulators will have to play catch-up.

That said, the release of the USDA hemp rules will not on its own make all the issues go away. There are likely to be differences between the rules set in the states and those released by the federal agency. This is because the 2018 Farm Bill gives states the authority to enact their own hemp rules arising from the ones set by the USDA.

As the state laws around marijuana show, states will rarely adopt the federal rules wholly, and some may even opt to pass rules that are counter to federal law. This same scenario could play out in the hemp sector as well, lawyers warn.

For now, analysts agree that hemp industry actors like The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TSX: TGOD) (OTCQX: TGODF) and Therma Bright Inc. (TSX.V: THRM) (OTC: THRBF) must be hoping that the USDA hemp rules are released quickly so that some clarity can be brought to the different aspects of the hemp industry, such as to what extent states can differ from the 2018 Farm Bill which made interstate hemp transportation and commerce legal.

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