Ohio Hemp Companies Win Second Federal Injunction Against SB 56

# Ohio Hemp Companies Win Second Federal Injunction Against SB 56

**MIDWEST, September 8, 2026:** A second, separate group of Ohio hemp companies won its own federal preliminary injunction this week against the state's Senate Bill 56 hemp restrictions, expanding the list of businesses shielded from a law that remains fully in force against everyone else in the state's hemp beverage market. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick issued the order September 4 in *Delta Beverages Inc. et al. v. Canepa et al.*, finding the plaintiffs showed a likelihood of success on their claim that SB 56's hemp definition, combined with a rule barring licensed marijuana dispensaries from sourcing product out of state, discriminates against interstate commerce under the U.S. Constitution's Dormant Commerce Clause, according to The Marijuana Herald.

The case, filed July 30 and docketed separately from the injunction already on appeal to the Sixth Circuit, names Delta Beverages, Crescent Canna, Cheech & Chong's Beverages, Torch Drinks, Fifty West Brewing Company, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Seventh Son Brewing, Rhinegeist, Uncle Arnie's, Hometown Hero and others as plaintiffs. Cincinnati's Fifty West Brewing, previously reported as barred from selling its own THC seltzer despite not being a party to the earlier injunction, is now covered under this second ruling. The order replaces a temporary restraining order Helmick issued August 7 and does not resolve the underlying case or invalidate SB 56 itself; every Ohio hemp beverage business outside the two now-shielded plaintiff groups remains subject to the law.

In Missouri, a provision of House Bill 2641 has moved from conditional to operative. The law's ban on intoxicating hemp products takes effect November 12, but it carves out an exception specifically for hemp beverages if the federal government delays its own restrictions. President Trump's September 2 signature on a federal spending bill delaying most federal hemp restrictions to December 11 now triggers that carve-out, meaning Missouri hemp beverages get to stay on shelves for another month while every other intoxicating hemp product in the state, edibles, vapes and other consumables, is still scheduled to disappear November 12 regardless, according to KCUR and the Missouri Independent. A ruling remains pending on the state's motion to dismiss the hemp industry's separate federal lawsuit challenging HB 2641 itself.

Wisconsin's hemp vape enforcement survived its own court test. Western District of Wisconsin Judge William Conley denied a preliminary injunction September 5 sought by Wisconsinites for Alternatives to Smoking and Tobacco (WiscoFAST) against the state's electronic vaping device directory law, the same directory hemp-derived vapes became subject to when a separate enforcement penalty took effect September 1. Conley found WiscoFAST unlikely to succeed on its claim that only the FDA, not the state, may regulate vape product authorization; WiscoFAST filed notice the same day that it will appeal to the Seventh Circuit, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Elsewhere in the region, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota reported no new hemp beverage developments this week. Nebraska's proposed zero-THC food rule remains under agency review, and Kansas's age-21 and labeling bill remains pending in committee, both unchanged since last week.