After a judge dismissed their lawsuit challenging a new law restricting THC products in Wyoming, several hemp sellers have appealed to a higher court.
The civil case Green Room v. Hill, was filed Aug. 19 in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles appeals from Wyoming’s federal U.S. District Court.
Green Room LLC and nine other hemp businesses, plus one individual seller, asked a federal judge in July to declare Wyoming’s new law against synthetic cannabis-light variants unlawful and to block it.
Wyoming’s recently passed Senate File 32, which is now Enrolled Act 24 and became enforceable July 1, expands the definition of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to include some of its psychoactive and synthetic variants, and prohibits Delta-8 THC if it exceeds 0.3% concentration in a product.
Wyoming’s hemp industry called the law confusing and claimed it conflicted with the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which permitted marketing of THC products with less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC, and which did not mention Delta-8 THC.
Judge Says No
U.S. District Court Judge Kelly Rankin dismissed the hemp sellers’ lawsuit Aug. 15, saying they failed to show that the federal law preempts Wyoming’s narrower law, failed to show the state is “taking” from them by restricting its own drug laws and failed to show the new law is vague.
Also, the state’s law doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution’s “commerce clause,” which reserves the federal government’s authority to regulate interstate commerce, Rankin ruled.
Rankin’s dismissal hearkens multiple times to his earlier July 19 order denying the hemp businesses’ request for a preliminary injunction, in which he called it unfortunate that the businesses are suffering profit losses, but said that’s not enough for them to overcome the state’s regulatory authority.
“Government regulation, while not always perfect, considers the lives of all citizens,” says Rankin’s earlier order.
Wyoming lawmakers “considered the effect some substance was having on its citizens,” wrote Rankin, adding that he wouldn’t insert his judgment for that of Wyoming’s elected representatives.
“The public has in (sic) interest in knowing the laws passed by their elected officials will not be overturned by the circumstances of a few,” Rankin wrote.
Lastly, the judge ruled that the businesses can’t sue Wyoming itself since the state has immunity from lawsuits, with only a few workarounds and exceptions to that rule.
The businesses did, however, have a legal mechanism to sue Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill and Wyoming Department of Agriculture Director Doug Miyamoto under an immunity exception reserved for preventing future wrongs. But though they found some of the right people to sue, their case failed on its merits, Rankin wrote.
Going To Appeal Then
In response, the hemp sellers appealed, announcing their intention to do so on the same day Rankin filed his dismissal, and filing their case in the 10th Circuit on Aug. 19.
The businesses’ attorney, Donna Domonkos, did not immediately respond Monday to an email request for comment.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
