A delta-8 THC retailer in Kansas is suing state officials for telling law enforcement that hemp-derived intoxicants are illegal drugs.
Murray Dines, owner of Terpene Distribution and the Guardian Cannabis THC Recreational Dispensary, contends in his suit that Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt was wrong when he issued an opinion last December saying that delta-8 THC products are illegal controlled substances, even if they are derived from hemp.
After that memo, his Topeka store was raided and $120,000 worth of delta-8 products were seized.
Dines points out that states under federal law are “not authorized to alter the definition of hemp,” meaning that products made from legal hemp extracts are also legal.
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He also points out that Kansas’ law allowing hemp production stipulates that regulations “shall be conducted in the least restrictive manner allowed under federal law.”
Dines is asking the court to declare that Kansas’ controlled substances act is preempted by federal hemp law.
State officials have not yet replied to the lawsuit, which was first reported by Law360.