Tennessee officials will have to pay a $735,000 settlement to two hemp businesses after law enforcement seized more than $1 million worth of hemp under the assumption it was illegal marijuana.
Officers seized hundreds of pounds of hemp flower from four Old School Vapor stores and a SAK Wholesale warehouse in Spring Hill and Columbia — their entire inventories, lawyers said — according to a complaint filed earlier this year.
The product was never returned, Alex Little, an attorney representing the Middle Tennessee businesses, said by phone. Even if it had been, it would have likely tested above legal limits by the time it was returned, Little said, especially if stored improperly. As hemp is exposed to light and heat, it develops more psychoactive qualities.
(READ MORE: Tennessee groups sue attempting to stop hemp rules limiting THCa products)
“They probably could have sold it to Colorado if they were smart, but oh well,” Little said.
The officers had search warrants, but not for the hemp products specifically, Spring Hill police spokesperson Lt. Michael Foster said in an email. News outlets reported the original warrants were related to mushroom products. No one from the businesses was ever charged in connection to the warrants or seizures, Little said.
Deputies in Williamson County, where Old School Vapor’s fifth store is, reportedly refused to seize flower because it was not listed in their warrant, according to court filings.
While in the SAK warehouse, officers reportedly asked to open locked safes where hemp flower was being stored and began to seize it.
The business owner reportedly told officers that the product was legal hemp and that he had lab test results showing its legality ready in the warehouse.
The officers were reportedly working under orders from District Attorney Brent Cooper, in the state’s 22nd judicial district, the complaint said. Foster referred questions about the investigation to Cooper, who did not respond to a phone message Wednesday.
(READ MORE: Survey: More than half of Hamilton County voters support marijuana legalization)
Cooper stated that hemp was the same thing as marijuana, lawyers wrote in the complaint.
Both hemp and marijuana come from the cannabis plant. Hemp is legally defined as cannabis with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, and marijuana typically has much higher concentrations of that psychoactive compound.
The product officers seized tested positive for THC in the field, according to court filings. But field tests like the ones officers used can’t tell the difference between different kinds of THC, the lawyers argued.
In Tennessee and federally, only delta-9 THC is limited in legal hemp products — though that could change soon.
“Because delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC and HHC cannabinoids are all legal in Tennessee in any concentration, a test that merely shows that there is more than 0.3% THC in a product cannot distinguish between a legal product (hemp containing those cannabinoids in any quantity) and an illegal one (marijuana with delta-9 THC over the legal limit),” attorneys wrote in the complaint.
(READ MORE: Pot or not? Everything you need to know about Chattanooga’s cannabis industry)
The department did eventually send the samples for testing to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which has more advanced machines that can differentiate between types of THC, Little said.
“In the first test they showed that it had no delta-9 at all,” Little said, “which is why they’re paying us $735,000, because they just kept it. No delta-9 at all, it was THCa flower.”
Spring Hill officials have not met to approve the settlement yet, Foster, the police spokesperson, said.
The city and state will each pay half of the settlement, Foster said in an email. If the settlement is approved, he said, “the settlement monies will come from our insurance liability pool.”
The settlement amount effectively covers the wholesale price of the products plus attorney’s fees, Little said. The potential retail value of the products was around $1.3 million, according to legal filings.
Little is also representing the Tennessee Growers Coalition, a hemp industry group, in a bid to pause new state rules that would effectively ban THCa products, Tennessee’s most popular hemp product. A ruling on that pause is expected soon, Little said.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.
Tennessee officials will have to pay a $735,000 settlement to two hemp businesses after law enforcement seized more than $1 million worth of hemp under the assumption it was illegal marijuana. Read More
