A coalition of Maryland hemp businesses, consumers, and industry advocates has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s cannabis licensing system and enforcement of hemp product regulations, The Baltimore Sun reports.
The suit, filed by the Maryland Hemp Coalition, 10 hemp business owners, and consumers, claims that Maryland is unlawfully regulating hemp-derived products that are legal under federal law. It also accuses state agents of using “erroneous testing standards” to seize products from shelves.
Attorney Nevin Young, representing the plaintiffs, criticized the state’s licensing framework as an artificial system designed to inflate business valuations and control the market. He called it “communist cannabis,” referencing what he described as an overregulated and monopolized system.
The lawsuit specifically targets the state’s cap on cannabis licenses, its lottery-based distribution process, and social equity provisions, which it claims violate constitutional protections. The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to strike down both the licensing limits and the structure of the state’s social equity program.
Levi Sellers, president of the Maryland Hemp Coalition, condemned the law as “a model of regulatory overreach and economic favoritism,” arguing that it harms compliant hemp businesses while handing the industry to politically connected cannabis operators.
Last year, Maryland issued 205 new cannabis licenses through a lottery process prioritizing social equity applicants. The lawsuit calls the system a “monopolized licensing scheme thinly disguised as being focused upon ‘social equity’” with no clear link to public safety or health concerns.
The case highlights rising tensions between hemp and cannabis operators in newly regulated states—and could set a precedent for how states handle overlapping regulations of federally legal hemp and state-legal cannabis.
Stay updated on cannabis business news — subscribe to our newsletter.
