The Brief
Senate Bill 494 bans the sale of certain hemp products in stores and mandates licensing along with product testing.
Business owners claim the restrictions are too severe.
Zakiya Watson-Caffe, a lawyer who represents those businesses, says state legislation undercuts federal law.
ATLANTA - A group of hemp companies say new regulations could put them out of business.
Hemp in Georgia
What we know
Senate Bill 494 bans the sale of certain hemp products in stores and mandates licensing along with product testing.
But business owners claim the restrictions are too severe.
Scott Ellison runs the e-commerce site THC Atlanta. Ellison planned to open a brick-and-mortar store after a federal law permitting the production and sale of certain hemp products took effect in 2018. State law stopped those plans.
What is SB 494?
The backstory
Georgia SB 494 went into effect last October. The state law limits the sale of hemp products to customers over 21. It bans products like smokeable hemp flower and many foods infused with THC. The law also mandates THC warning labels and new licensing requirements for hemp businesses.
Lawsuit over SB 494
What they're saying
"The plans fell out as soon as the law passed back in 2024 of October," Ellison said.
"It puts a strain on the industry as a whole," said Ellison, who is part of a group of hemp businesses that filed a lawsuit against the state. They claim the legislation is hurting them. "Sales are down probably about 60 to 75% at the moment," Ellison said. "It’s putting several shops around the area out of business."
The federal 2018 Farm Bill allows for the production and sale of hemp products, like THCA, with less than 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC — the compound that gets you high.
Zakiya Watson-Caffe, a lawyer who represents those businesses, says state legislation undercuts federal law.
"It’s not consistent with federal law," Watson-Caffe said. "The state can have its own regulations, but it has to be in compliance with the federal law."
Plaintiffs want the courts to grant an injunction to block the state law, "to overturn the law," Watson-Caffe said.
"To put THCA products back in shops," Ellison said.
FOX 5 called the Governor’s Office and the state Attorney General’s Office and is waiting for calls back.
The Source
Information in this article came from FOX 5's Christopher King speaking with plaintiffs in the lawsuit and reviewing the statutes.
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