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State of California Department of Justice
Rob Bonta
Attorney General
Attorney General
OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a lawsuit against nine companies for selling illegal inhalable hemp products in violation of Assembly Bill 45, failing to include warnings required by Proposition 65 for all commercial industrial hemp products, and engaging in unfair business practices. The companies are online sellers of a variety of commercial industrial hemp products containing Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-9-THC) and/or beta-Myrcene that can be used for vaporizing and smoking, as well as applied to the skin and ingested. Delta 9-THC has numerous health risks, including increased risk of reproductive harm, and developmental delays, and beta-Myrcene is a chemical known to cause cancer. The public’s potential exposure to these compounds in California requires warnings of these risks.
“I want to be clear: The sales of industrial hemp products that do not comply with California law, and the illegal sale of inhalable hemp in California will not be tolerated,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The dangers of these products must be communicated for sale to the public, and the sale of all industrial hemp inhalable products must cease altogether. The California Department of Justice will continue to protect the legitimate businesses who are operating responsibly in this space. There is no room for illegal inhalable hemp products in our state.”
Proposition 65 prohibits companies from exposing individuals in California to listed carcinogens and/or reproductive toxicants without first providing a clear and reasonable warning. Private citizens may sue under Proposition 65 if they first serve a notice on the company and on the Attorney General and other public enforcers, and no public enforcer has taken action within 60 days. In May and June of 2023, one Proposition 65 private enforcer, Biosphere, issued a number of 60-day notices to the companies alleging that their sale of commercial hemp products exposes California consumers to Delta-9-THC and beta-Myrcene, without a Proposition 65 warning. In addition, the notices alleged that some of the companies were selling inhalable or smokable hemp products in violation of Assembly Bill 45, which took effect in October 2021, and prohibits the sale of inhalable or smokable hemp products to consumers in California.
The complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, requests the court to block further sale of the illegal inhalable hemp products by the companies, as well as to block the sale of all other industrial hemp products that do not contain appropriate legally sufficient Proposition 65 warnings and apply monetary damages and penalties for both violations committed during prior sales. The complaint alleges the following companies have violated AB 45, Proposition 65, and California Unfair Competition Law through the sale of these products:
A copy of the complaint can be found here.
Attorney General Bonta is committed to protecting California’s legal cannabis markets. On August 29, Attorney General Bonta signed an agreement with the City of Fresno, making it the first jurisdiction to participate in the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Cannabis Administrative Prosecutor Program (CAPP). The program provides California cities and counties who partner with DOJ legal support to address illegal cannabis activity through administrative enforcement and nuisance abatement. This program builds on enforcement activities already underway. In 2022, Attorney General Bonta debuted a new year-round task force, the Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis (EPIC) task force, to allow DOJ to build out its cannabis enforcement work and investigate and prosecute civil and criminal cases with a focus on environmental, economic, and labor impacts from illegal cultivation.
Attorney General Bonta is also committed to protecting the health and safety of Californians through enforcement of the state’s Proposition 65 law. In February 2022, Attorney General Bonta, along with 10 district attorneys, announced a settlement with Perrigo Company and two of its subsidiaries to improve the safety of the company's infant and toddler formula products by putting in place ingredient sourcing and quality control processes to significantly reduce levels of lead in excess of the Proposition 65 warning threshold. Also, in February 2022, Attorney General Bonta issued a consumer alert after testing revealed dangerous levels of lead in a number of dried plum fruit and candy products sold by retailers in California. That same month, Attorney General Bonta also filed a lawsuit against McWane Inc., operating as AB&I, for unlawfully emitting hexavalent chromium into the surrounding community and for failing to provide Proposition 65 warnings to nearby communities.