A lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court on Monday on behalf of three licensed hemp shops accuses the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) of “trampling” on their constitutional rights by conducting “military-style raids” as part of their regulatory crackdown on illegal cannabis sales, the Albany Times Union reports. The raids followed new regulations adopted in December which tightened rules on – and effectively banned – intoxicating hemp products that the businesses had been legally selling without penalty for at least six years.
The stores – Smoke N Save in Saratoga Springs, Two Strains in Queensbury, and Breckenridge in Manhattan – accuse OCM of treating the hemp shops like unlicensed cannabis sellers, searching personal belongings of workers during the raids, breaking open locked cabinets, turning off store surveillance cameras, and refusing to provide identification.
“Under the guise of an ‘administrative inspection,’ a single (cannabis office) inspector, accompanied by a double-digit contingent of heavily armed police wearing body armor, and without notice, probable cause, or a warrant, are bursting into legal licensed hemp retailer’s business establishments, immediately turning off all cameras to avoid a record of their unlawful actions, and carrying out their unlawful tactics