Vape business sues Lancaster County DA, Drug Task Force over seizure of THC-laced hemp products

• By Jack Panyard/LNP | LancasterOnline

This story is published in partnership with our sister newsroom LNP | LancasterOnline. For more coverage, click here.

A Lebanon County-based vape shop is suing Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams and four members of the Lancaster County Drug Task Force, claiming they seized tens of thousands of dollars in THC-laced products without cause during raids in April.

In a lawsuit filed Aug. 4, Smooth Vape, a chain based in Cleona and owned by John Dolan, accuses Adams, Detective Jeffrey Krause and three unidentified agents of violating the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments when they took products containing delta 8, 9, 10 and 11 varieties of THC from one of its five shops in the state.

The Fourth Amendment guarantees the rights of people to be secure in their possessions against warrantless searches and seizures. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that the government will not take a person’s property without due process of law.

The seizure was part of a countywide sweep authorized by the district attorney’s office that netted nearly $300,000 in products from 25 smoke shops and convenience stores. Adams did not charge the stores, saying they could have been charged with up to $15,000 in fines and potential jail time, but the office conducted the seizures as part of a reminder that certain THC products are illegal in Pennsylvania.

Delta 8, 9, 10 and 11 are varieties of THC, the psychoactive component found in the cannabis family of plants, which includes marijuana and hemp. The THC found in the snacks, vapes and oils sold at local stores is usually synthesized or extracted from hemp, which is a legal crop in Pennsylvania.

While some say federal and state laws regulating THC are contradictory and unclear, some law enforcement agencies in the state are taking the position that all THC varieties other than delta 9 are illegal, and delta 9 is legal only in minute concentrations — less than .3% — that do not provide a high to the consumer.

Adams was out of the office Monday and a spokesperson declined to give a response.

According to the suit, Krause and three other officers entered a Smooth Vape store at 2600 Willow Street Pike on April 18, armed and in full uniform. They presented a “memo” from Adams saying they were there to seize all delta 8 and 9 products, as they were deemed illegal, and said if they did not turn over the products, the officers would shut down the store.

Smooth Vape assistant manager Kaylee Stoneburner arrived and asked officers why they could not sell the products, as there had been no objections to the sale of the products for years. She said Krause did not answer the question but just referred to Adams’ letter. The officers then spent about an hour taking any product containing delta 8, 9, 10 and 11 varieties of THC and instructed Stoneburner to sign off on an inventory list.

The lawsuit claims the sale of delta 8, 9, 10 and 11 products has been legal for years, and Adams is the only district attorney to conduct a seizure in Pennsylvania. The officers and Adams justified the seizures in the memo by citing the state Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. Confusion exists around the legality of the THC varieties because the way the law identified the chemicals when it was written in 1972 differs from the way the substances are identified today.

Smooth Vape claims its Willow Street store has lost tens of thousands of dollars in business since the raid, and that legislation including the 2018 revision of the State Farm Bill, which legalized industrial hemp farming and the sale of low-concentration delta 9 products, makes the sale of the other THC varieties legal.

Smooth Vape is seeking undisclosed compensatory and punitive damages against the officers and Adams as well as a declaratory judgment that products that do not exceed a .3% concentration of delta 9 are not subject to enforcement under the state controlled substances act. The business is also seeking compensation for attorney fees and any other relief the court deems appropriate.

“All of the acts and omissions committed by the defendants were done intentionally, unlawfully, maliciously, wantonly, recklessly, negligently, and/or with bad faith, and said acts meet all the standards for imposition of punitive damages,” the lawsuit reads.

Neither Dolan nor Smooth Vape’s lawyers, Tina O. Miller and Jerad Wayne Najvar, responded to requests for comment.