Header Image: Phoenix cannabis lawyer Tom Dean.
The recent raid of a Phoenix seller of intoxicating hemp products is poised to test a recent opinion by the state attorney general that such products are illegal in Arizona without a dispensary license.
Hemp growers and retail sellers of intoxicating hemp products are monitoring the legal situation, with one path leading to the expansion of a lucrative industry and another leading to criminal prosecution.
Three days after Attorney General Kris Mayes issued her formal opinion on March 11, Phoenix police served a search warrant on a local business and the Gilbert home of its 29-year-old owner, Thomas Damato. Mayes’ opinion sought to ban such products because, she argues, they’re illegal under state law “irrespective” of their “arguable federal legality.”
Police seized from Damato dozens of pounds of plant material, plus hundreds of concentrated cannabis products like vape pen cartridges. His lawyer has now filed a court motion asking that the items be given back.
Damato’s companies purchased legally grown hemp and hemp products, packaged them in their companies’ brands, and legally sold them, according to Phoenix cannabis lawyer Tom Dean.
Read full article
