Sheriff To Catoosa County Smoke Shop Owners: Your Delta-8 Products Violate State Law
Smoke shop owners in Catoosa County woke up to a rude shock recently when they received a letter from their local sheriff Gary Sisk notifying them that they were indeed violating state law. According to the letter, “the products the sheriffs office has purchased and tested all contain significant levels of Delta 9.”
The aftermath of this is that local smoke shops have pulled off their products of the shelves en masse. The cannabinoid D8 THC is derived from CBD. CBD is popular for being a non-intoxicant that is found in cannabis and hemp plants which became legal as a result of 2018’s Farm Bill. According to the Sheriff, employees of his office recently tested D8 products sold at smoke shops and discovered most of them contained a large amount of D9 THC, the psychoactive compound responsible for producing a high. The results? The stores have till the 30th of April to take down the products from their shelves.
Current State of Affairs
But store owners are already feeling the heat. Local store “The Shoppe” has already pulled over 300 items off its shelves costing over $11,000 in unrecoupable funds now. According to the owner Joe King, this shouldn’t have happened because the cannabinoid is legal under state and federal law.
According to the lab reports presented by King, all his products comply with state and federal THC threshold for Delta-9. The legal limit for that cannabinoid is 0.3% for Delta-9 THC. He went on to maintain that his D8 is legal within federal and state threshold limits. He said “It’s heartbreaking for me to know that they’re trying to take something like that off the shelves. It’s not illegal what we sell isn’t illegal.”
Past Problems With Delta-8 in Catoosa County
And this isn’t the first time the legality of Delta 8 THC has been in disarray. In 2018, the federal farm bill legalized all agriculture commodities derived from hemp. it was assumed it would include CBD based products like Delta-8 but in reality, it doesn’t. The state’s Hemp Farming Act HB 213 doesn’t name it either.
This is why the county’s sheriff believes the product is illegal in his county and the entire state. According to him – “We have to set the line somewhere. And again, the biggest issue is really for our young people getting their hands on it. And to that the levels of the THC that we’re seeing in this stuff,”
But certain people argue that the state’s law and the 2018 Farm Act okay Delta-8. An attorney pointed to language in the state’s law that showed that it legalized hemp and its derivatives. Considering the fact that D8 THC is often from hemp, it stands to reckon the product should be legal. Delta 8 has enjoyed a steady rise in popularity across the country and the government has struggled to contain its rise.
Who is Losing Out- Delta-8 in Catoosa County
But for store owner Joe King, the real victim here happens to be the users who have been deprived of their D8 and excluded from any of its purported benefits. According to King, he worries that his customers might drive across state lines in order to get their own cannabinoid.
He said – “We have known fentanyl drug dealers, and they’ve not doing anything about that. That’s a little weird, you know. But they want to come in here and crush us… what do you do? You want to try to keep a good substance on the market. But you won’t come out here they won’t fight they won’t they won’t fight the the real problem.”
We hope Georgia is able to shed light on their Delta-8 THC confusion soon. It’s a shame this is causing so much hardship, we hope for swift resolution to this conundrum.
Got more questions about CBD, Delta 8, or another cannabis compound? Head to the rest of our blog here.
