A collective of hemp growers in the state are suing the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) over what they say is the agency's abandonment of standard rule-making procedure that affects their business.
According to a lawsuit filed in the Davidson County Chancery Court, the Tennessee Growers Coalition says the department skirted its own rules and state law when it enacted so-called "emergency" rules regarding hemp production and sales in the state. These rules are therefore null and void, the hemp growers say in their complaint.
The rules correspond with the 2018 Farm Bill passed by the U.S. Congress. That bill redefined industrial hemp and hemp-derived products, removing them from the Schedule I Controlled Substances Act and making hemp an "ordinary (and legal) agricultural commodity," the suit states.
Tennessee then changed its laws to reflect the same definition in 2020, the suit reads, allowing for retail sales of hemp-derived products like Delta-8, Delta-9, and Delta-10 THC products. In May 2023, the suit says, the law was changed again, and lawmakers introduced a new definition of "hemp-derived cannabinoid[s]," which "placed extensive restrictions on their manufacture and sale."
Read the full article on WKRN.