The hemp inventory provision at the center of the USVI takings suit was repealed in March, and replaced with a sell-through window

As of August 10, 2026. Section 3 of Act 9072, the provision that required Virgin Islands hemp retailers to freeze their intoxicating cannabinoid inventory and coordinate its storage with the Department of Health, no longer exists. The Legislature struck it and replaced it on March 18, 2026. Governor Albert Bryan Jr. approved the replacement on March 26.

The vehicle was Act No. 9079, Bill No. 36-0198, an omnibus act that also redesignates funding sources under Act 9035, adjusts appropriations under Act 9045, appropriates $200,000 from the St. Croix Capital Improvement Fund for repairs to the wall and exterior gates of the Frederiksted Public Cemetery, and rewrites the definition of “serious illness” at title 3 of the Virgin Islands Code, chapter 25, section 590b. The cannabis provision is Section 3 of the act, four paragraphs in the middle of it.

No Virgin Islands outlet appears to have reported the change. The Office of Cannabis Regulation lists Act 9079 on its governance index alongside Acts 8680, 8925, and 9072, without a title or a summary, and cites it as joint statutory authority in the discussion draft of the intoxicating hemp regulations it released this month.

What the new Section 3 says

Act 9079 Section 3 reads: “Act No. 9072 is amended by striking section 3 and inserting the following new section 3.” The inserted text runs in full:

Not later than 60 days after the effective date of this act, retailers that possess THCA delta-6THC, delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, or other intoxicating cannabinoid products shall submit a list of intoxicating cannabinoid products to the Office of Cannibis Regulation.

Not later than 75 days after the effective date of this act, retailers shall sell or otherwise dispose of all THCA delta-6THC, delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, or other intoxicating cannabinoid products remaining in their inventory. After the 75-day period, the Office of Cannibis Regulation shall establish and implement a plan for the lawful disposition of all remaining unsold intoxicating cannabinoid products.

The misspelling of the agency’s name is in the enacted text, twice.

What it replaced

The original Section 3 read that retailers holding those products “are strictly prohibited from selling or distributing the products until the Office of Cannabis Regulation promulgates regulations and issues retail licenses,” and required them to notify and coordinate with the Virgin Islands Department of Health for safe storage.

That is the provision the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs halt order of February 17 put into operation. It is the provision Homegrown Bar & Grill, LLC challenged as a Fifth Amendment taking on February 19. And it is the provision Chief Judge Robert Molloy of the District Court of the Virgin Islands blocked by temporary restraining order on February 25, as to Homegrown “or any other licensed hemp retailer.”

Twenty-one days after that order, the Legislature took the contested mechanism out of the statute. Where the old text held product on a shelf indefinitely and pointed retailers at the Department of Health, the new text sets two clocks and permits a sale. “Retailers shall sell or otherwise dispose of” is different in kind from “are strictly prohibited from selling or distributing.”

Both clocks have already run

The replacement text measures from “the effective date of this act,” language that sits inside a section inserted into Act 9072. Read against Act 9072, which took effect on signing January 23, 2026, the 60-day inventory list was due March 24, 2026 and the 75-day sell-or-dispose deadline fell April 8, 2026. Read against Act 9079, approved March 26, 2026, the same deadlines fall May 25 and June 9, 2026.

Under either reading both dates are in the past, by 124 days on the earlier reading and 62 days on the later one. Under either reading the third sentence is now operative: after the 75-day period, OCR “shall establish and implement a plan for the lawful disposition of all remaining unsold intoxicating cannabinoid products.”

OCR has published no disposition plan. Its news archive carries nothing on the subject, and the discussion draft of the hemp regulations released this month does not contain one. The one piece of public evidence that any part of the new Section 3 was carried out is the account of the Cannabis Advisory Board’s July 30 meeting, at which the board said enforcement officers had visited licensed hemp retailers and collected inventory reports. That maps to the 60-day list requirement, four months after the earlier of the two possible deadlines.

What it means for the litigation

Homegrown’s complaint asked the District Court to stop the government from taking inventory the retailer had lawfully acquired before Act 9072, without compensation. The statutory text that mandated the surrender was repealed a month after the restraining order issued. Whether that moots the claim, narrows it to the April 2025 seizure that preceded Act 9072 entirely, or changes nothing is a question for the court and not one the statute answers.

No public ruling has issued in Homegrown Bar and Grill v. Bryan (3:2026cv00006) since the April 1 evidentiary hearing, now 131 days. The February 25 temporary restraining order remains the last reported order in the case.

What to watch

• Any OCR notice establishing the lawful disposition plan the amended Section 3 requires. It is the only outstanding obligation the provision creates, and it has no deadline attached.
• Whether OCR or the Department of Justice states which effective date governs the 60-day and 75-day clocks. The two readings are 62 days apart.
• Any docket activity in Homegrown Bar and Grill v. Bryan, including a filing by either party addressing the March amendment.
• Whether the September 15 close of comment on the draft hemp rules produces a rule that addresses inventory still held from the grace period. The CBD and hemp guide tracks the statute and the litigation together.