(Photo by Douglas Sacha/Getty Images)
The state of Tennessee and the city of Spring Hill will jointly pay two businesses $735,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging state and local law enforcement wrongfully seized 231 pounds of legal hemp products earlier this year, according to a statement from an attorney representing the businesses.
The settlement follows the Spring Hill police department’s seizure of legal hemp products from Old School Vapor and SAK Wholesale in Columbia, Tenn. last May.
Days later, the businesses filed a federal suit seeking the return of products they said were valued at $1.35 million. The lawsuit named Spring Hill Police Chief Don Brit and 11 other officers and employees of the local district attorney’s office, including District Attorney Brent Cooper, whom – the lawsuit claims – articulated the position that legal hemp was “the same damn thing” as marijuana.
Hemp is distinguished from marijuana under federal and state law based on the concentration of a compound known as delta-9 THC. Hemp products with a concentration of less than .3% delta-9 THC are legal to sell, buy and consume in Tennessee – and federally. Cannabis with concentrations greater than .3% is classified as marijuana and is illegal in Tennessee.
The appearance of hemp flowers and marijuana are virtually indistinguishable, requiring laboratory testing to differentiate legal from illegal substances.
In a separate legal challenge against the state, hemp industry groups won a temporary injunction blocking new rules – set to take place Dec. 26 – that would serve to outlaw most hemp products in Tennessee. The new rules, developed by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, would require first-time testing of hemp products for so-called THCA – an acid natural to hemp plants that converts to THC when heated or smoked. A Nashville judge ruled Monday the rules will be temporarily blocked until Feb. 18.
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