A Rochester-area hemp-product retailer has gone to court to get back products they say were illegally seized by New York state officials.
The petitioners are: ROC IT OUT WELLNESS LLC (dba KINGDOM WELLNESS), with locations in Webster, Canandaigua, and Penfield; and SMOKED AT LLC (dba Kingdom Wellness Dispensary) in Rochester.
The petitioners are represented by attorney Derrick Spatorico, who filed the petition in state Supreme Court Thursday against the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and the New York Attorney General.
The petition seeks a hearing pursuant to Title 9 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) Section 133.6, which pertains to business suspensions and stop work orders.
The plaintiffs have a New York state license to sell hemp-related products, and the license is included in a list on the OCM website.
On Oct. 31, agents from OCM, the state Department of Taxation and Finance, along with deputies from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police troopers raided the businesses “under the guise of a routine license inspection,” according to the petition.
“Without performing any testing of any nature on the products for sale at petitioners’ stores, the government agents seized over $500,000 of the goods of petitioners,” according to the petition.
“As the government agents exited the petitioners’ businesses, they padlocked the entrances to deprive your petitioners of access to their places of business, personal property, merchandise, cash, computers, etc.,” according to the petition.
They also posted a notice “advising the public at large that the petitioners were operating an ‘illegal activity’ and that they were selling ‘illicit cannabis’ that was ‘seized,’ ” according to the petition.
“The action of the government agents and the (OCM) are without any basis in law or fact and therefore arbitrary and capricious per se,” the petition claims.
The state officials “conducted no weighing, testing, scientific or otherwise, before confiscating, seizing and removing the goods of the petitioners,” the petitioners claim.
“Although the state will undoubtedly attempt to describe the actions of the government agents as civil, when your place of business is raided by the (OCM), the Monroe County Sheriff and the state police, all clad in bulletproof vests, firearms, tear gas, handcuffs, physical restraints and semi-automatic weaponry, one is led to believe that the actions of the state are far from civil in nature,” Spatorico wrote in a supporting affirmation.
The petitioners have a valid “certificate of authenticity” for the seized products, proving that the products are “within the scope of the petitioners’ licensure,” according to the petition.
“The government agents cannot distinguish between hemp and cannabis without scientific testing as the two looked very similar and originate in the same scientific genus and species,” according to the petition.
Shortly after the raid, the petitioners requested an emergency hearing pursuant to Title 9 NYCRR 133.6, which requires, on written request from a licensee, a hearing within 15 days.
“More than 30 days have elapsed without so much as a response from any department of the state of New York,” according to the petition.
“Petitioners allege that such inaction is arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law, an abuse of the state’s discretion, and in violation of the petitioners’ rights under the substantive laws of the United States of America and the state of New York,” according to the petition.
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A Rochester-area hemp-product retailer has gone to court to get back products they say were illegally seized by New York state officials. Read More
