A federal judge cleared the way for Virginia's strict new hemp THC limit to take hold this week, while South Carolina lawmakers left town without reviving their own stalled THC restrictions until 2027.
SOUTH ATLANTIC, August 19, 2026: A federal judge in Roanoke denied seven Virginia hemp businesses' request to block a new 2-milligram total THC per package cap on August 14, clearing the way for the standard to take effect the next day and making most hemp beverage and edible inventory in the state illegal to produce or sell.
U.S. District Judge Robert S. Ballou ruled the plaintiffs, led by Northern Virginia Hemp & Agriculture LLC, had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits or irreparable harm, and that "the balance of equities and the public interest weigh in favor of Defendants," according to his order cited by Virginia Mercury. The ruling clears the way for House Bill 30 to eliminate the state's 25-to-1 CBD-to-THC ratio exception, which had let products exceed the 2mg cap if they carried proportionally more CBD.
Barbara Biddle, president of the Cannabis Small Business Association and owner of Manassas-based District Hemp Botanicals, called the decision "incredibly disappointing" and said the judge himself "acknowledged that this was rushed legislation, leading to complications and unintended consequences." She is calling on the General Assembly to convene a special session and on the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority, the Attorney General's office and local law enforcement to consider pausing enforcement in the meantime. Travis Lane, owner of Northern Virginia Hemp & Agriculture, said voters "deserve to remember who made that choice" if small businesses are pushed toward bankruptcy while the state builds a licensed adult-use cannabis market set to open in July 2027. Gov. Abigail Spanberger has not personally commented on the ruling; her office has said the change closes a "loophole" that let untested, highly intoxicating products circulate with inadequate safeguards for minors.
In South Carolina, lawmakers left the Statehouse on August 12 with no further session days scheduled before January 2027, formally killing a compromise that would have restricted THC product sales to buyers 21 and older alongside a related DUI enforcement bill. The two measures had been linked procedurally since both failed floor votes on June 25. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said senators opted to "take a shot at it next year" rather than force another vote, and Rep. Robby Robbins, a member of the negotiating committee, said the bill's prospects next year depend partly on whether Congress lets a federal 0.4-milligram hemp THC cap take effect this fall. Because South Carolina is in the second year of a two-year legislative session, the bill must be reintroduced from scratch in 2027. THC products remain on sale in the state to buyers of any age in the meantime.
North Carolina's status is unchanged: the House has not acted on a narrower alternative to its tabled hemp restriction bill, House Bill 328. Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Georgia, Florida and Washington DC saw no beverage-specific regulatory or industry developments this week; the DC Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board remains in its annual summer recess until September 15.
Virginia's Cannabis Control Authority next meets September 9, where the transition is expected to come up. In South Carolina, both the THC and DUI proposals are expected to return as new bills when the legislature reconvenes in January.
Forma works embedded on hemp and THC beverage formulation and commercial scale-up, from compliant dosing and label claims through co-packer qualification. This wire is a byproduct of the same regulatory tracking that informs that work.
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