[PRESS RELEASE] – CHICAGO, Nov. 6, 2026 – On Nov. 5, the Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association (ILHAA), along with hemp industry businesses, filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunction, as well as a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the state of Illinois representatives to prevent provisions of the Illinois Hemp Act from going into effect on Nov. 12, 2026. The plaintiffs are represented by Michael Rothstein and Nate Goodman of Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC.
The federally legal hemp businesses in Illinois constitute a half-billion-dollar industry, which sustains thousands of jobs and generates more than $30 million in revenue for the state.
According to the filings, if allowed to go into effect on Nov. 12, the Illinois Hemp Act will immediately and unconstitutionally slam shut access to Illinois markets by out-of-state companies that cultivate, manufacture and sell federally legal hemp-derived cannabinoid products. In addition, the Hemp Act will immediately obliterate the businesses of thousands of Illinois farmers, infusers, distributors and retailers who grow, manufacture or sell federally legal hemp-derived cannabinoid products.
Because the Hemp Act violates the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, the plaintiffs ask the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to enter a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction enjoining its enforcement by the state of Illinois officials named as defendants in the lawsuit.
ILHAA is an Illinois not-for-profit trade association which represents 250 companies in Illinois’ legal, low-potency hemp industry that employ more than 5,000 people. ILHAA’s members include hemp farmers, manufacturers, processors, infusers, distributors and retailers across every facet of Illinois’s legal hemp industry.
