Federal and state agents are seizing hemp products, leaving South Carolina sellers in legal limbo as debates over cannabinoid regulations intensify.
CBD and smoke shop owners across South Carolina's Lowcountry are reporting raids by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and state law enforcement, where agents are seizing certain hemp-derived products that owners say are legal under state law.
Bills to strictly regulate or ban intoxicating hemp-derived products are currently being debated in the state legislature, but current state law recognizes hemp as cannabis containing less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC and clearly allows for the sale of non-intoxicating hemp-derived products such as CBD. Intoxicating cannabinoids, such as delta-8 and delta-10 THC, on the other hand, exist in a grey area under state law.
In December, the DEA and the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced Operation Ganjapreneur, which targeted the distribution of high-potency THC products sold openly in retail shops, especially products marketed as delta-9 THC but which exceeded the 0.3 percent THC limit under state law. That enforcement action resulted in 12 arrests, 40 drug charges, and the seizure of about 30,000 pounds of THC products and more than $2 million in assets.
This latest round of raids has not resulted in any reported arrests, but shop owners report that agents entered their shops, locked the doors, and seized all the hemp flower products from their shelves.
The latest raids have shaken shop owners.
"Everybody's in limbo. We don't know what to do," said Rafael Del La Maza, owner of High Market Organics. "This is my second-leading category in sales. Gummies are number one, but flower is right behind it," he said.
He said he had reduced his flower inventory but is not removing it entirely.
"I've eliminated most of my flower options to just what's here. If law enforcement takes it, it’ll be a loss—but a minimal one," he said.
Another shop owner who requested anonymity said the raids would only push customers into the black market.
"They're just going to change where they're getting them from—places that are unregulated, untaxed, and funding organizations we don't want funded," the owner said. "It's terrible that SLED and DEA—and the political wind change—is going to ruin the hemp industry completely," he added.
SLED and the DEA have not commented.