Vol. 1, Ed. 85 — Fri Nov 6: Missouri sues retailers over marijuana sold as hemp

Missouri's attorney general sues four retailers over alleged marijuana-as-hemp sales as a federal court upholds the state's hemp law; Illinois leaders ask Congress to let the federal hemp ban take effect December 11; Minnesota opens 2027 hemp license applications with a revised fee schedule. For general information only — not legal advice.

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This is the New Realm Compliance Brief, Volume one, Edition eighty-five, for Friday, November sixth.

Our top story is in Missouri. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway sued four retailers, in Aurora, Des Peres, Independence, and Rock Port, alleging they sold marijuana products presented as legal hemp and marketed themselves as licensed dispensaries. The suits seek civil penalties and injunctions, and the allegations have not yet been ruled on by a court. The same week, a federal court in Missouri dismissed an industry challenge to House Bill twenty-six forty-one, the state law redefining hemp, which takes effect November twelfth. Hanaway said Missourians deserve honesty and legality from the businesses operating in their communities.

On the federal side, Illinois Governor J B Pritzker, Senator-elect Juliana Stratton, and Senator Tammy Duckworth released a post-election agenda asking the new Congress to let the federal ban on intoxicating hemp take effect, urging lawmakers to oppose any further delay. That ban, a cap of four tenths of a milligram of total T H C per container, is currently set for December eleventh, after Congress approved a thirty-day extension in September. Hemp industry groups have pressed Congress for a regulated framework instead of the ban.

Around the states: Minnesota opened applications for twenty twenty-seven hemp grower and processor licenses, with a revised fee schedule. The base license is four hundred dollars, each additional location is two hundred fifty dollars, and the separate processor fee has been eliminated. Applications are due April thirtieth. And in Mississippi, Pearl River County voters approved both countywide alcohol referendums, opening the formerly dry county to licensed liquor, beer, and wine sales.

On the radar: state hemp laws take effect November twelfth in Illinois and Missouri, pulling stronger T H C beverages from liquor-store and grocery shelves there, and the federal hemp redefinition follows on December eleventh.

Full details and source links are in today's email. This update is for general information only. It is not legal advice.