Judge declines to block Alabama’s new ban on smokable hemp. What’s next for THC?

• OG Article  By Mike Cason | mcason@al.com Watch Today's LIVE Episode on YouTube, X, and Rumble

• Published July 02, 2025

Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson on Monday denied a request by four companies for an order to block part of Alabama’s new law on products made from hemp.

Anderson made the ruling after a hearing Monday afternoon, when lawyers for the companies told the judge why they believed a temporary restraining order was appropriate.

Lawyers for Attorney General Steve Marshall opposed the motion.

The new law, HB445, bans the sales and possession of all smokable hemp products. Violations will be a Class C felony, punishable by 1 to 10 years in prison. That part of the law takes effect Tuesday.

The four companies, Mellow Fellow Fun LLC, Tasty Haze LLC, The Humble Hemp Shack LLC, and Seedless Green LLC, claimed that the ban on smokable hemp is preempted by federal law.

The federal farm bill passed in 2018 distinguished hemp from marijuana and made it legal to grow and process if the THC content is 0.3% or less.

The plaintiffs claimed Alabama’s ban on smokable hemp interferes with interstate commerce.

Anderson, after hearing the arguments, disagreed, and denied the motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.

“The Court finds as a matter of law that House Bill 445 does not impede or prohibit interstate shipping of hemp products,” Anderson wrote.

The companies make other claims in their lawsuit, filed Friday, including that the new Alabama law is vague.

Besides the ban on smokable hemp, it bans products such as gummies and drinks containing THC made from a synthetic process.

Lawyers for the companies noted that the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries licenses companies to grow and process hemp.

What to know about the new law

While the ban on two categories of hemp products, smokable and with synthetic THC, takes effect Tuesday, other parts of HB445 go into effect in January.

The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will enforce restrictions on product testing, contents, serving sizes, labeling and packaging.

The board will license retailers, which will be restricted to 21-and-older shops except for grocery stores, which will be able to sell beverages containing THC.

The new law says gummies must be individually wrapped and sold in cartons with no more than 40 total milligrams, or four gummies.

The companies that filed the lawsuit said they supported many of the new regulations.

The Legislature passed HB445 in May after considering several other bills on THC products and holding public hearings that drew packed crowds.

Proponents of the legislation, by Rep. Andy Whitt, R-Harvest, and Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, said regulations were needed for the widely available smokables, gummies, edibles, and drinks, especially those that carried high dosages of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Hemp shop owners and others in the business said they did not oppose regulations but said HB445 was an overreach and would put many of them out of business and deprive their adult customers of products they say are safer than alcohol and tobacco.

Last week, state and local law enforcement served search warrants on hemp shops in five Alabama cities and seized smokable hemp products that officials said exceeded the 0.3% limit on THC.

Attorney General Steve Marshall showed that testing showed the products were marijuana, not hemp, because of the THC levels.