Here comes your state-by-state update for October 2025. Hey, I’m Morgan Davis. I’m a health and wellness attorney based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Let’s talk about how to keep your business protected and thriving. One of the biggest needs for those in the hemp and cannabis industries is an understanding of what’s going on on a day-to-day, week to week, and month-to-month basis because it’s all changing and it’s changing very quickly. So, one of my gifts to the industry is on every month I like to talk about what I think is the most important changes, updates, enforcements, etc. from the last 30 days. So, here comes your update for October 2025. The theme for the month, the squeeze is coming, but hemp beverage is thriving. Ohio, man, it’s been a really fun month in Ohio. Uh, we’re going to do a longer video going through all the steps that have occurred in the last 30 days, but here’s your quick snippet. Governor Dwine was very unhappy that the legislature did not make some major changes when it comes to the hemp industry in Ohio at the last legislative session. So in a some would say pretty brilliant political move, he issued an emergency order banning all intoxicating hemp products. He then let the Ohio Department of Agriculture define what intoxicating hemp products are. in their regulations what they which they issued uh under an emergency order anything above 0.5 milligrams of THC per serving or 2 milligrams of THC per container became an intoxicating hemp product and not allowed in the state of Ohio. Top line. A group of hemp businesses and um organizations then filed a lawsuit requesting an injunction and a temporary restraining order that has been granted that was granted on the 14th for a period of 14 days. So until the 28th that stays in place and hemp stays in the market uh in Ohio. Unfortunately 14 days isn’t much of a reprieve to make a huge difference in the market but for now hemp is open for business in Ohio. We will update you as time goes on as to what comes next. California, same thing. Please stay updated for an upcoming longer deep dive on the changes in California. But the thing to know about California is the war on hemp in California seems to have completely ended. Uh not in favor of hemp. There were two bills passed in California um in the last 30 to 60 days which one shuts down online hemp sales to California pretty much entirely and gives a private right of action for anyone who finds a company selling products into the state of California. That means if you choose to continue to sell products into the state of California online that are prohibited, then a private citizen can sue you on behalf of the state of California for doing so. In addition to that, they have completely taken the hemp industry in California and those selling products in California and now placed them in the regulatory market. The only things that stay out of the regulatory market are CBD isolate products, completely non- intoxicating, no THC, not even traces of THC products. Those will stay out of the regulated market. Everything else gets treated the same as cannabis moving forward. Stay tuned for a deeper dive on what that means for you based on where you are in the supply chain and whether you’re instate or out of state in the state of California. Texas. We’ve talked about Texas a couple of times over the last month when we had a ban bill that was then vetoed and then a special session and nothing happened in the special session. Well, then Governor Abbott made good on his promise that he was going to still do something about intoxicating hemp in the state of Texas. He issued um an emergency order and is requesting that the all the Texas agencies, the Texas ABC, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, Texas Department of Public Safety, etc. They all come up with a regulatory scheme to address the hemp market in Texas. Two agencies have already issued emergency regulations in line with that request. One is the Texas ABC for all lences. So this is anyone who’s got an ABC license in the state of Texas selling beer, wine, liquor. They must ident they must card the person buying a consumable a consumable hemp product from them and verify that that person matches that ID. Not doing so if they are found to have not done so and sold to someone under 21, they will lose their ABC license. Big, big deal. Texas Department of Health and Human Services came in right behind the Texas ABC and adopted essentially the same rule. What does this mean? It means that a lot of companies have chosen to turn off direct to consumer online sales period or delivery because they may feel that the tech to verify that the person purchasing online and the purchase stand you know the person receiving is the same as the ID that they may scan in or otherwise. Um obviously there are ways around this in-person sales signature upon delivery etc. But for now, a lot of companies for fear of losing a license have chosen to just turn off ecom. Minnesota feels a little bit like the end of the hemp era. Minnesota’s been touted as the forerunner in the hemp industry for many years now, where they came up with a regulatory scheme that allowed lots of hemp businesses to thrive and exist while getting rid of some of the elements that people have such an issue with. um you know the the trademark infringement, the selling under 21, the they adopted a total THC standard basically banned all smokable hemp products, banned all quote unquote synthetics other and only allow Delta eight and delta 9 products. So Minnesota’s been doing that for years and as a hemp company you could operate there as long as you were on a registry. They have passed new regulations adopting a much more robust scheme that tries to put the hemp industry in line with their regulated cannabis industry. The overall result is that outofstate companies will no will not be able to obtain a license in Minnesota. If you are currently on the registry, you can sell through December 31, 2025, but after that, you’ve either got to be partnered with an instate company um or you can’t sell there. Online sales turn off period for everybody at the beginning of the year. So, it’s a very different era. There’s going to be packaging, labeling requirements, state specific stickers, the whole shebang. Um very, very different hemp era for Minnesota coming. Minnesota has proposed tightening rules for both the cannabis industry, the regulated cannabis industry, as well as the hemp industry. Now, the current rules in Michigan basically don’t allow most hemp products. That said, other than having that in the statute, there’s very little enforcement behind it. And so, Michigan has become a state where it’s not allowed, but hemp products are very, very prevalent all over the state of Michigan. In an effort to sort of curtail that, Michigan has some bills coming through that would propose to do again kind of the same thing we’re seeing in Minnesota and and states like Ohio. They’re going to try and marry the hemp industry with the existing regulated cannabis industry, licensing, packaging, labeling, state specific requirements. Um, we’ll be watching that as it progresses in the in the coming months, but the hemp industry in Michigan could look very different moving into the next legislative session. Wisconsin, a group of um legislators in Wisconsin are proposing what they have what the media is calling a total ban, but in fact, it’s the adoption of a total THC standard for the state of Wisconsin. So most of your THCA flour, THCA vapes would go away. And a ban on synthetics. The what the ultimate definition of synthetic will be is not very clear. But they are the media is specifically targeting delta 8. Most of the law that’s been proposed at the moment is clear though that it would lead to the adoption of a total THC standard in Wisconsin. Georgia. Um hemp pre-rolls are still legal in Georgia, but not THCA flour. Georgia passed sweeping regulations last year that changed the face of the hemp industry and there was a big lingering question mark around hemp pre-rolls. Hemp flour was clear sold by itself is clearly no longer legal in the state of Georgia and t all products have to comply with a total THC standard. Therefore, THCA flour was not allowed in the state of Georgia. But what was unanswered is what does that mean about pre-roll products, hemp pre-rolls, where did that leave them? Um, the Georgia Department of Agriculture issued new regulations and guidance that made it has made it clear that hemp pre-rolls, if they comply with the total THC standard, are permitted in the state of Georgia. So, any of you out there who are selling infused pre-rolls that comply with the total THC standard, thumbs up for Georgia. as long as you comply with the rest of the packaging labeling requirements and have that special sticker on there. Kansas Kansas has no regulatory changes, but they’ve had some recent strict enforcement. At the beginning of October, Kansas law enforcement conducted raids at smoke shops across the state. Um, most of it though in six six particular cities targeting 10 smoke and vape shops um that they claimed were selling, you know, illicit marijuana or that was hemp products well above the legal limit. They conducted controlled buy on, sent it off for testing, came back hot. Um, the guidance is that Kansas still has a delta 9 THC standard. you have to comply with that, but they are no longer going to accept shops that openly sell products that are violating the law. So, for those of you in Kansas, if you are selling flour, pre-roll products, vape products, make sure that your COAs are in order. And if you are doing your own testing, that you’ve done some spot testing recently to make sure that the products you’ve got on hand um are still in line with what you’ve got on your certificates of analysis. That is your update for October 2025. I hope this was helpful to you. If you find that your company needs more, you’re selling in 10 plus states, things are moving really quickly, you’re just not sure what to do, and you’re too busy, you know, running your business to keep on top of all of this. We’d love to help you. We do it on a daily basis and a month, weekly and monthly basis with lots of our clients. If you need your own 50-state summary for your product line or where you’re selling, we also provide that. Give us a call. We’d love to help you stay protected and thriving.
Video Tags: [vid_tags]
Video Duration: 00:11:44
