How to Check if a Product is Legal in a State

This guide walks you through using HempData API to determine whether a specific hemp product can be legally sold or shipped to a given state.

Overview

The most common use case for HempData API is answering: "Can I sell [product] in [state]?" This involves a single API call that returns a structured legal status, restrictions, and confidence score.

Step 1: Identify Your Product Parameters

You need three pieces of information:

Common Substance IDs

Common Product Type IDs

Step 2: Make the API Call

curl -X GET "https://api.hempdataapi.com/v1/regulations?state=TX&substance=delta-9-thc&product_type=edibles&include_sources=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Step 3: Interpret the Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "reg_f1e2d3c4-5678-9012-abcd-ef3456789012",
      "state": "TX",
      "substance": "delta-9-thc",
      "product_type": "edibles",
      "legal_status": "prohibited",
      "summary": "Delta-9 THC edibles are prohibited in Texas following HB 1842.",
      "details": {
        "thc_limit": "N/A — prohibited",
        "age_requirement": null,
        "license_required": false,
        "additional_restrictions": "All hemp-derived THC edibles banned effective March 1, 2026."
      },
      "confidence": 0.88,
      "last_verified": "2026-03-18T06:00:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Decision Logic Based on legal_status

Confidence Score

The confidence field (0.0 to 1.0) indicates how reliable the data is:

Step 4: Check Multiple States at Once

If you sell nationwide, use the compare endpoint to check several states simultaneously:

curl -X GET "https://api.hempdataapi.com/v1/regulations/compare?states=CO,CA,TX,FL,NY&substance=delta-9-thc&product_type=edibles" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

This returns a side-by-side comparison with a summary.

Full Node.js Example

const axios = require('axios');

const API_KEY = process.env.HEMPDATA_API_KEY;
const BASE_URL = 'https://api.hempdataapi.com';

async function checkLegality(substance, productType, state) {
  const response = await axios.get(`${BASE_URL}/v1/regulations`, {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY}` },
    params: {
      state,
      substance,
      product_type: productType,
      include_sources: true,
    },
  });

  const { data } = response.data;

  if (data.length === 0) {
    return { canSell: false, reason: 'No regulation data found. Treat as unclear.' };
  }

  const reg = data[0];

  switch (reg.legal_status) {
    case 'legal':
      return { canSell: true, reason: reg.summary, restrictions: [] };
    case 'legal_with_restrictions':
      return {
        canSell: true,
        reason: reg.summary,
        restrictions: reg.details,
        ageRequired: reg.details.age_requirement,
      };
    case 'restricted':
      return { canSell: false, reason: reg.summary, note: 'May be possible with special licensing.' };
    case 'prohibited':
      return { canSell: false, reason: reg.summary };
    case 'unclear':
      return { canSell: false, reason: 'Status unclear. Consult legal counsel.' };
    default:
      return { canSell: false, reason: 'Unknown status.' };
  }
}

// Usage
(async () => {
  const result = await checkLegality('delta-9-thc', 'edibles', 'CO');
  console.log(result);
  // { canSell: true, reason: 'Delta-9 THC edibles are legal in Colorado...', restrictions: {...}, ageRequired: 21 }
})();

Full Python Example

import requests
import os

API_KEY = os.environ["HEMPDATA_API_KEY"]
BASE_URL = "https://api.hempdataapi.com"

def check_legality(substance: str, product_type: str, state: str) -> dict:
    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/v1/regulations",
        headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"},
        params={
            "state": state,
            "substance": substance,
            "product_type": product_type,
            "include_sources": "true",
        },
    )
    response.raise_for_status()
    data = response.json()["data"]

    if not data:
        return {"can_sell": False, "reason": "No regulation data found."}

    reg = data[0]
    status = reg["legal_status"]

    if status == "legal":
        return {"can_sell": True, "reason": reg["summary"]}
    elif status == "legal_with_restrictions":
        return {
            "can_sell": True,
            "reason": reg["summary"],
            "restrictions": reg["details"],
        }
    elif status == "prohibited":
        return {"can_sell": False, "reason": reg["summary"]}
    else:
        return {"can_sell": False, "reason": f"Status: {status}. Consult legal counsel."}

# Usage
result = check_legality("delta-9-thc", "edibles", "CO")
print(result)

Next Steps

• Set up webhook alerts to get notified when regulations change
• Embed the compliance widget on your product pages
• Export compliance reports for your legal team