America’s Drug Enforcement Administration is calling for a state judge to toss away a lawsuit from the HIA( Hemp Industries Association) over extraction legalization that many believe will wrongly incriminate temporary plant byproducts during production.
During the Tuesday filing, the DEA asserts that HIA is disputing a hypothetical policy or regulation about manufacturing hemp byproducts and the case should be settled in an appeals court not a United States district court. The development was first reported by Law 360.
The major concern is whether the drugs enforcement agency is simply upgrading its regulations to adhere to the 2018 Farm Bill (which eradicated low-THC marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act), or whether it’s making an unlawful power scoop by stating that temporary hemp by-products are Schedule 1 controlled substances during part of the extraction procedure where the crop’s THC levels surpass permitted thresholds.
Previously the DEA required export and import permits for the export and import of drug commodities in dosage formulas that’re FDA-approved and contain cannabidiol(CBD) extracted from marijuana and less than 0.1% residual THC. Since these substances are not classified as controlled substances, the DEA is creating a listing for ‘authorized CBD substances’ under Schedule V.
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is RE Botanicals, a South Carolina cannabidiol maker.
In December, a state judge ruled against RE Botanicals and HIA on their appeal to mandate the drugs enforcement department to determine how it plans to implement regulation over hemp extracts during the manufacturing process.
Judge James Boasberg cited that RE Botanicals and HIA were acting abnormally by forcing the DEA to respond to advance queries about a regulation that the agency issued during August 2020 which illegalizes common byproducts of CBD extraction.
James concluded that the drugs enforcement agency is not liable to any response before the trial of the lawsuit.
