Hemp companies have filed lawsuits challenging the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) determination that a cannabinoid produced synthetically from components of the cannabis plant is federally illegal.
DEA issued a rule last month saying that while it had already considered hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) to be a Schedule I illegal substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the agency will now giving the compound its own unique drug code for classification.
HHC can be found in trace amounts in cannabis plants but is also synthesized by hydrogenating cannabidiol (CBD). It’s sometimes sprayed on cannabis flowers that are low in delta-9 THC, the most well-known psychoactive component of marijuana, and its psychoactive effects are reportedly similar.
While the 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized hemp and its derivatives with less than .3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis, DEA says that only applies to naturally occurring, and not synthetic, cannabinoids. As such, it is the agency’s position that HHC does not fall under the definition of legal hemp.
But that interpretation of federal statute is now being challenged in two separate lawsuits that say the agency’s decision is “unlawful.”
One case, filed by Bluestar Operations, LLC before the U.S. Court of Appeals for
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