Police Raid Nine Hemp Product Retailers in Allen, Texas

Police in Allen, Texas said they raided nine hemp product retailers this week after an investigation found they were selling products containing illegal amounts of THC, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Allen police said the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Collin County Sheriff’s Office assisted them in the investigation.

“The warrants were obtained and executed following an in-depth investigation into alleged illegal activities involving the sale of products containing greater than 0.3% THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis. Products previously sold at these nine locations have tested from 7% to 78% THC.” — Law enforcement written statement, via Dallas Morning News

After the DEA subpoenaed records in July from companies selling legal hemp products, the shops hired San Marcos-based attorney David Sergi in preparation for an incident like this week’s raid, the report said. Sergi represents at least eight of the nine shops targeted in the raid and says his clients have been operating lawfully under the law, and that the raid by law enforcement was an “escalation” meant to intimidate legal hemp product retailers.

“There is a right way and a wrong way under Texas law to deal with products that may be out of compliance, and they have gone down the complete wrong path, and they will be held to account,” he said.

Cannabis remains illegal in Texas although hemp, the non-psychoactive version of the plant, was made federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill. Since then, the hemp industry’s cannabinoid product offerings have expanded from primarily CBD, which is non-psychoactive, to include intoxicating cannabinoids like delta-8 and delta-10 THC, which can both be synthesized from hemp-derived CBD. The purveyors of these products maintain that they are legal under the current Farm Bill’s definition of hemp, though the DEA has suggested otherwise.