*This article first appeared on SFGate.com
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s controversial emergency ban on all hemp THC products in California was approved by the Office of Administrative Law on Monday afternoon, effectively shutting down a thriving product category within California’s cannabis industry.
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Retailers will no longer be able to sell popular products like drinks made with hemp THC, an intoxicating cannabis compound, and many types of medicinal products made with CBD, a mostly nonintoxicating compound.
The emergency rules are effective immediately, meaning hemp THC products are now illegal across the entire state, according to a copy of the regulatory action obtained by SFGATE in a records request from the Office of Administrative Law.
Newsom has argued that lax rules have allowed underage youth to access intoxicating products, and he filed emergency rules earlier this month to completely ban them. But the hemp industry has said that the Newsom administration was abusing the emergency rulemaking process to pass the hemp THC ban and that banning hemp THC would have disastrous effects on medical patients who rely on hemp to treat a wide range of health conditions.
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The Office of Administrative Law agreed with Newsom, writing in the order signed Monday that the emergency rules are “deemed to be an emergency situation.” The ban on hemp THC will be effective until March 25, 2025.
Newsom’s hemp ban has caused outrage in the medical cannabis community, with families “panic buying” thousands of dollars of hemp in anticipation of the rules going into effect. Bonni Goldstein, a Los Angeles medical doctor, previously told SFGATE that Newsom’s hemp ban could leave at risk patients sick or even dead if they are unable to buy the hemp THC that’s been providing life-saving effects.
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a national trade organization, vowed earlier this month to challenge Newsom’s emergency rules in court if they went into effect.
