07/02/2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2, 2024
Iowa H**p Businesses Seek Injunctive Relief
From ‘H**p Amendments’
The recent Iowa legislation that criminalizes the manufacture and sale of h**p
products should be halted on constitutional grounds.
(DES MOINES)—A group of nine h**p businesses, HW Premium CBD, AJ’s Health and Wellness d/b/a American Shaman, E. Krieger Land, LLC d/b/a Green Goods Market & Greenhouses, Green Onyx Inc. d/b/a Your CBD Store, Beyond CBD LLC d/b/a Beyond CBD, Campbell’s Nutrition Centers, Inc., TCI Enterprise, Inc. d/b/a Sky High, Icanna, LLC, and Your CBD Stores Franchising LLC (collectively “Plaintiffs”), filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa last week seeking to enjoin the state of Iowa from enforcing recently passed laws, the so-called “H**p Amendments,” that recriminalize the manufacture and sale of h**p products in the state—contrary to federal law. The Court will hold a preliminary injunction hearing on July 11, 2024, to determine whether the state can enforce the H**p Amendments.
The H**p Amendments were signed into law by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on May 17, 2024, and largely take effect today, July 1, 2024, a mere six weeks after they were signed and well before the State has finalized regulations to guide their implementation and enforcement by the state agencies tasked with doing so. The result: Iowa h**p businesses, including the Plaintiffs, are stuck in regulatory limbo and will face irreparable, unconstitutional harm.
In 2018, the U.S. Congress passed the Agriculture Farm Improvement Act, commonly referred to as the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized the cultivation and possession of h**p and h**p-derived products and expanded the definition of h**p. Since that time, Iowa’s many h**p businesses, including those of the Plaintiffs, have invested in the nascent industry, have developed significant operations, and have engaged in lawful commerce permitted by the 2018 Farm Bill in accordance with federal and state law. Specifically, the Plaintiffs cultivate, manufacture, distribute, and sell h**p products in and out of Iowa and have operated for several years now in a legal market through a supply chain of farmers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers throughout Iowa and the country.
The H**p Amendments recriminalize h**p products that were federally legal and legal under Iowa law since at least 2020, rendering them illegal, controlled substances as of today, July 1, 2024. At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Plaintiffs estimated the H**p Amendments could irreparably impact 75 percent or more of their inventory. Worse still, the H**p Amendments provide no grace periods for transporting, storing, or otherwise handling such products.
The lawsuit highlights the H**p Amendments’ incompatibility with the U.S. Constitution, including violations of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and Commerce Clause, Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment’s Takings Clause. “We believe Iowa’s H**p Amendments are unconstitutional,” said Rick Wagaman, the Chief Operating Officer and Owner of HW Premium CBD . “The Farm Bill defines clearly what h**p is, and it has an express preemption clause that forbids exactly the kind of thing the state of Iowa is attempting to do here.”
“If the goal was to target the availability of certain h**p products to a person under 21 years of age, there were several ways the state of Iowa could have pursued that end,” he added. “Instead, we got the H**p Amendments, which deprive Iowa businesses of the beneficial use of their property while having catastrophic financial consequences for the Plaintiffs.”
“The Iowa H**p industry is in a fight for its life, and that fight comes to a head on July 11th , at the preliminary injunction hearing” said Ashley Powell, the owner of American Shaman.
Powell concluded: “The bottom line is the H**p Amendments are excessive and vague. They trample upon the constitutional rights of lawful, legitimate businesses. We intend to vigorously assert our rights and look forward to our day in court.”
More information regarding the Plaintiffs and their cause
can be found at
Business Owners Join Here!Donate Now!About UsIowa H**p Alliance is a collaborative initiative between the Consumable H**p Advocates and H**PC, two groups representing organizations that advocate on the behalf of Iowa’s consumable h**p industry.You may have heard we have been working to save Iowa.....
