A bunch of Texas hemp companies and a smoke store operator have filed a federal lawsuit towards the town of Allen, legislation enforcement companies and officers, claiming they initiated an unlawful raid on hemp shops and illegal arrests.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by the Hemp Trade Leaders of Texas (HILT) and Sabihe Kahn in U.S. District Court docket for the Jap District of Texas, alleges the municipality and police companies violated the plaintiffs’ Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and 14th Modification rights in raiding a authorized hemp enterprise.
In line with court docket paperwork, the plaintiffs declare authorized hemp merchandise had been seized via an “overbroad search warrant” and {that a} testing lab failed to make use of up to date testing methodologies that altered the concentrates of authorized THCA into unlawful delta-9, rendering the possible trigger for the search warrant “inaccurate and missing.”
The plaintiffs are searching for momentary and everlasting injunctive reduction, all seized property returned, improved testing requirements, search warrant bans based mostly solely on THC, and legal professional charges.
The defendants embody:
- Metropolis of Allen police division.
- Allen Police Chief Steve Dye.
- Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner.
- U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
- Sheriff’s deputies and DEA brokers.
The lawsuit additional claims that certificates of study (COAs) present the hemp merchandise seized at Kahn’s retailer, Allen Smoke & Vape, contained lower than 0.3% THC, the authorized federal restrict established by the 2018 U.S. Farm Invoice.
The swimsuit additionally alleges that the DEA violated a court docket keep on ordering subpoenas by circumventing the keep by working alongside the Allen Police Division, which initiated the search warrants.
In late August, Khan and several other HILT members had been arrested and charged with manufacturing and delivering a managed substance, a second-degree felony.
“Many members of the general public now affiliate hemp companies, together with these inside our affiliation, with criminal activity regardless of our members’ strict adherence to the legislation,” HILT stated in a information launch.
“This stigma has already triggered substantial hurt to Hemp Trade Leaders in Texas and its members.”
