Judge 'increasingly doubtful' of feds' lawsuit against West Virginia hemp farm

A federal judge voiced doubt this week over the U.S. government’s civil prosecution of a Mason County hemp farm and related parties.U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers lifted a stay in the case caused by the partial federal government shutdown and dissolved an injunction that prevented the farmers from transporting or selling their hemp.But after U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart and his office made a motion seeking to test the hemp, Chambers delayed his lifting of the injunction until Wednesday, to give defendants a chance to respond to Stuart’s request.While Chambers noted that his Thursday order is not a final judgment, he said he has “become increasingly doubtful of the government’s case on the merits” and mentions the passage of the federal Farm Bill, which legalized industrial hemp.“Despite being enacted after the issues in this case arose, the 2018 Farm Bill expresses congressional intent that current public policy supports states exercising primary control over hemp production,” the order states.West Virginia legalized production of industrial hemp for commercial purposes in 2017 under an earlier iteration of the farm bill.Stuart and his lawyers argued previously that the passage of the farm bill had no impact on the case because it happened after the alleged offenses. They also argued the farmers “created the problems of which they now complain” regarding contractual deadlines to process the hemp because they did not adhere to their original project description.