Not much has changed for cannabis law at the state level since my last post on the topic. I noted there that several defendants were seeking review before the North Carolina Supreme Court regarding the potential impact of legal hemp and the sight or odor of cannabis on probable cause. As readers may know, the North Carolina Supreme Court granted review in several cases addressing that issue and heard oral argument this past September (as discussed in this article). Whenever the court decides those cases, I will be sure to cover them here. Meanwhile, there have been major developments for legal cannabis at the federal level. Today’s post examines those changes and their potential implications for North Carolina’s hemp industry. Existing Federal Hemp Law. Under current federal (and state) law, hemp is defined as any part of the Cannabis sativa plant, including all extracts, derivatives, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 THC concentration of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis. 7 U.S.C. 1639o; see also G.S. 90-87(13a). This definition of hemp was first codified in federal law with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. Because the federal definition distinguished legal hemp from illegal marijuana based only on the delta-9 THC concentration, the hemp industry soon began producing hemp products with higher levels of other cannabinoids or cannabinoid isomers, derivatives, acids, and the like, many of which have intoxicating effects. For instance, THCA, an acid and precursor of [...]
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