Two weeks after law enforcement officials padlocked 23 businesses throughout Rutherford County for selling CBD infused products, the area's District Attorney's Office dropped the charges against them and dismissed the case.
“They didn’t do actual detective work,” said Joe Kirkpatrick, President of Tennessee's Hemp Industries Association. “They should’ve read the law and understood that there’s a difference between products derived from industrial hemp and products derived from marijuana.”
At Magical Vapors in Smyrna, Cole Mohundro did his best to answer customer questions after they were shut down.
"Why would they come in and shut you down for something that is legal? I can’t give them that explanation cause I don’t know,” he explained. “Its kind of disappointing.”
In a press release, the District Attorney General said the TBI assured them that the items being sold were infused with illegal controlled substances.
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In Tennessee, CBD products that contain less than .3 percent of THC means they're 100 percent legal in the state.
“Whatever we receive, as far as CBD, abides by the law because we don’t want people who are using this for medical issues to fail a drug test at their job because they were told one thing and its not that,” Mohundro said.
The TBI released a statement stating its labs can only determine relevant compounds, not the particular origin of a substance and that stakeholders were well aware of this during the investigation. It went on to say that CBD, a derivative of marijuana, may be considered a Schedule VI substance under the Tennessee Code.
“You look at 23 stores, you’re like, come on now, really, 23 stores? That’s a lot to be saying is selling illegal stuff,” said Mohundro.
