Judge Rules NYC Officials Out of Order for Raiding Hemp Shops
Earlier this week, a court ruled that marijuana regulators in the state of New York were acting ultra vires when they flouted the constitutional rights of licensed hemp stores and used rough-handed tactics to carry out raids in these stores without court-authorized search warrants.
The ruling was made by state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Marcelle, who added that the sheriff’s office didn’t possess the authority to carry out regulatory raids of licensed stores and needed to stop immediately. The judge also issued a temporary restraining order against the New York City Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Cannabis Management.
In addition to this, he directed state regulators to curb their inspections to no more than a pair of inspectors, both of whom would be unarmed, unless they identified a credible security concern linked to the business they’d be inspecting.
Attorney for the petitioners in the case, Mr. Joshua S. Bauchner, stated that the ruling supported the rights of hemp licensees in the state who were struggling against seizures of legal products, armed raids, and being labelled as criminals by the government, all without constitutional protections.
Over the last 2 years, hundreds of licensed hemp stores in the state have been raided by police agencies and state regulators, with cannabinoid products worth millions of dollars being seized. These seizures have primarily been driven by new rules governing marijuana and hemp that were approved by the Cannabis Control Board in 2023 without the involvement of the state legislature or public comment.
These rules, which went into effect in 2024, tightened the regulations governing hemp products and effectively banned products that most of the licensed hemp retailers in the state had been selling since marijuana was legalized in New York in 2021.
As part of these changes, the state also established regulations for hemp products and empowered the Cannabis Control Board to oversee them. Implementation saw regulators, police officers and tax agents, often wearing bullet-proof vests and armed, enter premises unannounced and begin searching locked safes and cabinets, personal belongings of employees, and areas that weren’t part of an individual’s retail business.
In some instances, the police and regulators would turn off surveillance cameras and even make employees hand over their money. Additionally, customers were often asked to leave stores or were prevented from entering the premises, which prevented commercial transactions from happening.
In their defense, owners of hemp stores argued that the new rules and inspections that resulted in seizures had severely impacted their businesses.
The decision of the judge to rule NYC officials and law enforcement out of order in their overzealousness to clamp down on illegal marijuana products is likely to be applauded by hemp industry actors like Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) that wish to see laws implemented fairly without treating licensed hemp and marijuana businesses in ways that don’t recognize that they too are legitimate businesses positively contributing to the economy and communities.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/SFWJ
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the HempWire website applicable to all content provided by HW, wherever published or re-published: https://www.HempWire.com/Disclaimer
Earlier this week, a court ruled that marijuana regulators in the state of New York were acting ultra vires when they flouted the constitutional rights of licensed hemp stores and used rough-handed tactics to carry out raids in these stores without court-authorized search warrants.
The ruling was made by state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Marcelle, who added that the sheriff’s office didn’t possess the authority to carry out regulatory raids of licensed stores and needed to stop immediately. The judge also issued a temporary restraining order against the New York City Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Cannabis Management.
In addition to this, he directed state regulators to curb their inspections to no more than a pair of inspectors, both of whom would be unarmed, unless they identified a credible security concern linked to the business they’d be inspecting.
Attorney for the petitioners in the case, Mr. Joshua S. Bauchner, stated that the ruling supported the rights of hemp licensees in the state who were struggling against seizures of legal products, armed raids, and being labelled as criminals by the government, all without constitutional protections.
Over the last 2 years, hundreds of licensed hemp stores in the state have been raided by police agencies and state regulators, with cannabinoid products worth millions of dollars being seized. These seizures have primarily been driven by new rules governing marijuana and hemp that were approved by the Cannabis Control Board in 2023 without the involvement of the state legislature or public comment.
These rules, which went into effect in 2024, tightened the regulations governing hemp products and effectively banned products that most of the licensed hemp retailers in the state had been selling since marijuana was legalized in New York in 2021.
As part of these changes, the state also established regulations for hemp products and empowered the Cannabis Control Board to oversee them. Implementation saw regulators, police officers and tax agents, often wearing bullet-proof vests and armed, enter premises unannounced and begin searching locked safes and cabinets, personal belongings of employees, and areas that weren’t part of an individual’s retail business.
In some instances, the police and regulators would turn off surveillance cameras and even make employees hand over their money. Additionally, customers were often asked to leave stores or were prevented from entering the premises, which prevented commercial transactions from happening.
In their defense, owners of hemp stores argued that the new rules and inspections that resulted in seizures had severely impacted their businesses.
The decision of the judge to rule NYC officials and law enforcement out of order in their overzealousness to clamp down on illegal marijuana products is likely to be applauded by hemp industry actors like Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) that wish to see laws implemented fairly without treating licensed hemp and marijuana businesses in ways that don’t recognize that they too are legitimate businesses positively contributing to the economy and communities.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/SFWJ
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the HempWire website applicable to all content provided by HW, wherever published or re-published: https://www.HempWire.com/Disclaimer
