Indiana excise police – the state Alcohol and Tobacco Commission law enforcement arm – has at least twice cited stores selling CBD products despite saying in August they would back off the practice, according to a report from the Indianapolis Star. At that time, commission officials said they would no longer confiscate CBD products from stores unless they “clearly violate” state law.
On Aug. 14 – just two days after police made the announcement – a retailer in Lake County was given a violation notice for products seized in January. The following month, an Indianapolis gas station was issued a warning about its “Kush Cakes” which are made with “hemp protein.”
“If an Excise Officer were to return after the five days and… the Kush Cakes were still in the store, then the warning would become a violation,” an officer wrote in the incident report, according to the Star.
Heather Lynch, spokeswoman for the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, said the actions were “issued in error and … withdrawn.”
The agency seized more than 3,000 products from about 60 Indiana stores during the May enforcement action, according to the report, while industrial hemp-derived CBD products were removed from the state’s controlled substance list in 2014.
It’s unclear whether the products were returned to retailers. The Star reported at the time of the state-wide seizures a spokesperson for Gov. Eric Holcomb said they would be held until the “legal analysis pursuant to Indiana law” was complete.
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