Kansas Officials Are Being Sued Over Raids Against Hemp Businesses

“The lawsuit is a tactic to distract from the fact that Indy Vapes and Abilene Vape and CBD made a business decision to ignore state law.”

By Maya Smith, Kansas Reflector

Three smoke and vape shops are suing the state of Kansas, accusing officials of Fourth Amendment violations in a series of October raids.

The plaintiffs have filed suit against KBI director Tony Mattivi, Attorney General Kris Kobach (R), KBI agents, local law enforcement and county attorneys. They allege illegal search and seizure and defective warrants.

The KBI and local law enforcement executed raids late last year on smoke and vape shops in Concordia, Independence, Abilene, McPherson, Pratt, Salina, Topeka and Wichita.

The raids were planned in an effort to end lax enforcement of laws against marijuana and THC in Kansas, according to Kobach at a press conference held during the raids.

The lawsuit claims officers seized hemp-derived products without distinctions in the warrants between legal and illegal hemp products under Kansas law.

The smoke and vape shops say the warrants were defective for not acknowledging that types of hemp-derived products are legal within Kansas, with the warrant for Indy Vapes in Independence stating all derivatives of THC are contraband.

The Kansas Controlled Substance Act says industrial hemp and hemp-derived products are legal and are not controlled substances if they have less than a 0.3 percent concentration of THC. The plaintiffs say they sell legal hemp products and purchase those products from established wholesalers.

Kobach’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.

The shops said they lost thousands of dollars in inventory and that the seized inventory was likely destroyed. Mattivi said at a press conference held during the raids that seized products were sent to labs by the KBI for private testing.

According to the lawsuit, officers told employees not to film them, covered windows from the inside and unplugged the store’s internet and in-store security cameras.

“The lawsuit is a tactic to distract from the fact that Indy Vapes and Abilene Vape and CBD made a business decision to ignore state law, and now want to blame law enforcement for what they knew was a likely consequence,” according to a statement from the KBI. “We will defend our responsibility to enforce the laws of Kansas.”

The KBI said warrants executed by agents gave them the authority to seize illegal products and contraband. The statement did not address agents interfering with recording.

This story was first published by Kansas Reflector.

Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel and Philip Steffan.