A medical marijuana company says it’s unconstitutional to prevent it from selling certain products
Lawsuits in the cannabis industry remain a common occurrence, especially when states bring measures that may not suit the operations of some businesses. This case is now a fact of life in Minnesota after the state implemented a new hemp-derived THC edibles law. That measure is now facing its first major legal challenge following a lawsuit filed by one of the region’s established medical marijuana companies. The firm claims it should be able to sell its “chemically identical” cannabis edibles on the open market.
The plaintiff in the legal action is Vireo Health, a company that refused to sit idly by and filed a lawsuit last week. It claims that this new measure is violating the company’s constitutional rights because its products continue to be prohibited for people who are not part of the state medical cannabis program.
Should a judge agree and rule in favor of the company, its edible cannabis products could be sold to all residents of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Clearly, the conditions are that these users must be of legal age and that the products contain no more than five milligrams of THC per serving and 50 milligrams per package.
“Vireo would have to drastically change its business model to incorporate hemp and hemp-derived edibles,” the suit states. “From a constitutional standpoint, Vireo should not have to change its business just to be treated equally with sellers of products that are identical to the products Vireo is already selling.”
The lawsuit may be the first major legal test of the THC law. The Minnesota Department of Health, the Bureau of Medical Cannabis, the Attorney General’s Office and the state’s largest counties are the entities to which the lawsuit is being directed, attacking the state’s high level of regulation of hemp-derived edibles versus the medical market. Still, the company is only asking that its products (which meet legal limits) be sold openly.