New Jersey Hemp Companies In Negotiations With State Officials Over New Law Banning Intoxicating Cannabinoid Products

The hemp law has prompted confusion among business owners and state officials since Gov. Phil Murphy signed the law in September.

By Sophie Nieto-Muñoz, New Jersey Monitor

Hemp companies suing New Jersey over a law that bans intoxicating hemp product sales are in “ongoing discussions” that could resolve the dispute, according to a recent court filing. 

Several hemp companies appealed after a federal judge upheld most of the hemp law that went into effect in October, although the state’s cannabis regulatory agency said it couldn’t enforce some of the regulations due to the decision. 

Now, the parties will file status reports every 60 days to the judge overseeing the case about any “potential developments” in their attempts to end the legal challenge, an attorney for the state told the judge earlier this month. 

New Jersey’s hemp law has prompted confusion among business owners and state officials since Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed the law in September. Murphy said he agreed with some of the concerns that led lawmakers to pass the bill—they said children could easily buy products with thousands of milligrams of unregulated THC, the chemical compound in cannabis—but Murphy said he believed some provisions of the legislation were too vague. 

The law requires hemp businesses to apply for licenses through the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission to sell, manufacture and distribute hemp. The law would also open liquor license holders up to selling hemp products if they obtain a license from the commission. 

Hemp business filed suit shortly after the law was signed, arguing it is unconstitutionally vague. Hemp is federally legal, unlike cannabis, and New Jersey’s law would effectively criminalize many hemp cultivators, manufacturers, and retail shop owners, they argued. 

A judge sided with hemp businesses’ argument that parts of the law unconstitutionally infringe on interstate commerce, but he also agreed with attorneys for New Jersey who argued they have the power to regulate hemp.

In November, the commission said it was “unable” to begin enforcement of provisions of the law dealing with regulating intoxicating hemp, but its bans on sales to people under 21 and on products that aren’t derived from “naturally occurring biologically active chemical constituents” are in effect and enforceable. 

Under the law, people selling intoxicating hemp products without a license face fines of $100 for the first offense, $1,000 for the second offense and at least $10,000 for subsequent violations.

This story was first published by New Jersey Monitor.

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