Hemp Companies Seek to Block Ohio Law Reclassifying Federally Legal Products as Marijuana

TOLEDO (LN) — Plaintiffs Titan Logistics Group LLC and 14 other companies moved Thursday for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleging that Ohio Senate Bill 56 violates the dormant Commerce Clause and Supremacy Clause by effectively banning out-of-state hemp products while granting immunity to in-state marijuana licensees.

The motion, filed June 4, 2026, argues that S.B. 56, which the plaintiffs say purportedly took effect on March 20, 2026, narrowed Ohio’s definition of “hemp” to exclude products that remain federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill. By reclassifying those federally lawful hemp products as “marihuana” under state law, the plaintiffs contend the statute subjects out-of-state manufacturers to felony trafficking and possession charges unless they sell through Ohio’s closed-loop marijuana system.

That system requires an in-state physical presence and currently issues no new licenses, the motion states. The result, according to the plaintiffs, is that the Ohio market for hemp-derived products is reserved for approximately 204 existing in-state dispensaries and their supply chains.

“America’s national economy could not exist if individual States could discriminatorily obstruct the interstate flow of otherwise federally lawful goods,” the motion states. The plaintiffs argue this constitutes a classic dormant Commerce Clause violation.

The plaintiffs, which include companies based in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Ohio, argue they face immediate irreparable harm, including the threat of criminal prosecution and the loss of market access. They note that an Ohio state court in Sandusky County granted a preliminary injunction on May 14, 2026, in a substantially similar case brought by North Fork Distribution I, LLC.

The Sandusky County Court of Common Pleas found that the plaintiff made a sufficient showing of likelihood of success on its dormant Commerce Clause claim, according to the federal motion. The court concluded that the alleged practical effect of S.B. 56’s reclassification and Ohio’s licensure structure “may function as a market-access condition rather than a neutral product-safety rule alone.”

The plaintiffs also cite a federal court decision in New Jersey, Loki Brands, LLC v. Platkin, where a federal court invalidated a materially analogous state scheme on dormant Commerce Clause and federal preemption grounds.

In addition to the dormant Commerce Clause claim, the motion alleges that S.B. 56 is preempted by the 2018 Farm Bill, which expressly prohibits states from banning the transportation or shipment of hemp produced in accordance with federal law. The plaintiffs seek to certify a defendant class of all Ohio law enforcement officers to ensure statewide injunctive relief.