Extractor seeking return of hemp from Idaho dealt another setback

A Colorado CBD manufacturer is considering another appeal on its quest to get back hemp biomass seized last year in Idaho.

Big Sky Scientific of Aurora, Colorado, received another rejection last week from an Idaho judge.

The company is trying to get Idaho State Police to return roughly 6,700 pounds of biomass seized last year in Ada County, Idaho. The hemp was grown in Oregon and bound for extraction in Colorado.

Big Sky earlier asked a federal appeals court to step in, arguing that states can’t block interstate commerce for hemp.

That court sent the case back to Idaho, where authorities say the interstate-commerce guarantee doesn’t apply to the hemp in question because it was grown before nationwide hemp legalization.

Fourth District Judge Jonathan Medema sided with the state, writing that the hemp shipment was still a controlled substance under Idaho law, Boise TV station KTVB reported.

The judge further argued that Oregon wasn’t playing by the rules when it allowed hemp to be grown as a pilot program, spoiling Big Sky’s attempt to argue the plants were legal.

Big Sky attorney Elijah Watkins told the TV station that the company is considering its next steps and might try appealing parts of the case to the Idaho Supreme Court.

An Idaho State Police spokeswoman said the hemp biomass has not been destroyed.