District Hemp Botanicals will close its store at 9417 Main Street in Historic Downtown Manassas on Saturday, Oct. 17, after nine years in business, founder Barbara Biddle announced this week.
In a letter published by Manassas NOW, Biddle said she was sharing the news “with a heavy heart.” She described the shop as a mission focused on education, access and alternatives, and said changing regulations, the loss of popular products and challenges for independent hemp businesses made it impossible to continue. A 50% closing sale runs through the final day.
Biddle started the company in 2017. District Hemp Botanicals LLC was one of seven Virginia hemp businesses that sued the state after Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the biennial budget bill, HB 30, on June 29, 2026. That budget eliminated a previous 25-to-1 CBD-to-THC ratio exception that had allowed some consumable hemp products to exceed 2 milligrams of total THC per package. Beginning Aug. 15, 2026, those products were limited to no more than 2 milligrams of total THC per package. The same legislation also created the framework for a regulated adult-use marijuana retail market scheduled to open July 1, 2027.
The federal lawsuit, Northern Virginia Hemp & Agriculture LLC et al. v. Governor Abigail Spanberger et al., Case No. 7:26-cv-00615, was filed July 31, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. The plaintiffs, represented by former state Sen. J. Chapman “Chap” Petersen of Chap Petersen & Associates, argued the change amounted to an unconstitutional taking of property, violated due process and treated hemp retailers differently from the marijuana operators the state was preparing to license. They asked for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block the Aug. 15 effective date.
U.S. District Judge Robert S. Ballou denied the emergency requests on Aug. 14, 2026. In an 18-page memorandum opinion, he found the businesses had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits or the kind of irreparable harm required for emergency relief. The 2-milligram cap took effect the next day.
On Oct. 1, 2026, the plaintiffs filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice, which allows them to refile later. Petersen confirmed the withdrawal in comments to Cardinal News.
In the original complaint, District Hemp Botanicals said it had roughly $10,000 in inventory that would become unsalable, projected liabilities of more than $230,000 — including amounts owed to creditors and an estimated Leesburg lease-exit cost — and that it had already terminated staff. The filing noted the company had served more than 50,000 customers since 2017 under the prior rules.
Biddle has told reporters the changes left little time to adjust and put the business at risk of bankruptcy. The Manassas store’s closing announcement does not reference the lawsuit or any specific statute, but the regulatory shift that followed the budget deal is the change the plaintiffs challenged in court.
