A US federal circuit appeals court has affirmed the legality of “synthetically derived” hemp cannabinoids, rejecting interpretations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids (IHDCs) in the process.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit – the last stop before a case goes to the Supreme Court – said, as part of a larger ruling on whether it was illegal to let an employee review a failed drug test, that IHDCs such as tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (THCO) are legal under current US federal regulations because the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Act) legalised all hemp-derived products, as long as they were under the stated THC limit (0.3%).