The Drug Enforcement Administration is urging a federal appeals court to throw out a lawsuit brought by the hemp industry over hexahydrocannabinol, or HHC, defending its longstanding position that the psychoactive cannabinoid remains an illegal Schedule I controlled substance. In a brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, federal regulators argued that petitioner Bluestar Operations lacks legal standing to challenge an agency rule that assigned HHC its own distinct tracking code. The DEA contends that creating this unique code was merely an administrative step to streamline its tracking rather than a substantive change in legal status, meaning that even if the court threw out the rule, HHC would still remain federally banned as a controlled substance.
The broader dispute hinges on how federal law distinguishes legal agricultural hemp from banned synthetic compounds. While the 2018 Farm Bill descheduled hemp and its extracts containing under 0.3 percent delta-9 THC, the DEA maintains that this safe harbor applies exclusively to naturally occurring plant compounds. Because commercial HHC is typically synthesized in a lab through the chemical hydrogenation of CBD, the agency views it as an illicit synthetic rather than legal hemp. Hemp companies across multiple circuit courts strongly reject this interpretation, arguing that Congress intentionally crafted an expansive statutory definition to protect all downstream hemp derivatives and extraction processes from agency overreach.
Federal regulators also pointed out that this courtroom battle may soon be overtaken by broader legislative action, as incoming federal rules tighten total THC thresholds per package down to fractions of a milligram, effectively outlawing most intoxicating hemp alternatives nationwide regardless of the outcome of this case.
Dabbin-Dad Newsroom
