A man arrested during Allen police’s hemp shop raids in August filed a lawsuit this week, seeking a federal court’s protection to do business in the city.
Sabhie Khan, 70, was one of six people arrested in late August, when Allen police raided nine hemp shops in the city, accusing them of selling hemp-based products with illegal levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
An Allen spokesperson said the city is aware of the lawsuit but declined to comment on pending litigation.
Khan was also accused of selling hemp-based products to an 18-year-old man without checking his identification, states his arrest warrant affidavit.
There is no age limit in Texas to purchase consumable hemp products, including those intended for smoking.
Authorities, including the city’s police chief, Steve Dye, have described the situation as a crackdown on illicit products dressed up as legal and being sold under a gray area of regulation. They have said products seized and tested by police have shown 7% to 78% THC levels compared to 0.3% — the legal limit in the state.
David Sergi, Khan’s lawyer, has said authorities targeted his client and similar businesses and filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas to step in.
“The DEA, Allen Police Department, and Collin County Sheriff’s Office targeted Khan’s small business, bringing the full force of the federal government, teamed with an aggressive, headline-seeking police department, and together they treated Khan like the kingpin of a drug cartel, despite hemp being legal,” the Tuesday filing states.
Khan is a manager of Allen Smoke & Vape, according to the filing.
In addition to all seized inventory during the raid, Sergi said his client, whom he represents on behalf of the Hemp Industry Leaders of Texas, is requesting the court protect him from further harassment from law enforcement.
“The lawsuit is intended to change the behavior of Allen authorities against hemp shops and to send a message that hemp is legal,” Sergi said.
Sergi said his client agrees that hemp-based products should not be sold to people under 21, but added he thinks it is problematic that law enforcement “didn’t care what the law was.”
Khan’s warrant also showed the products tested by authorities involved THCa, a chemical compound that turns into THC when heated. In the filing, Sergi argued the method of testing — gas chromatography — used by authorities heats THCa in products, thereby causing samples to look illegal.
The lawsuit asked all further testing on products be conducted through methods that do not alter the original THC content in a product, which include, but are not limited to, high-performance liquid chromatography.
Products Khan sold to the 18-year-old man later tested to have 17.5% and 1.88% THC, many times over the limit. Although the Tuesday filing also named the labs that produced the certificate of analysis required for the products, Sergi said that portion of the lawsuit could be amended.
“We have come to the conclusion that it’s not worth suing the labs because this is really about what Allen PD did,” Sergi said.
The 2018 Farm Bill defined “hemp” as “cannabis and derivatives of cannabis with no more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis,” separating hemp-based products from the definition of “marijuana,” according to the Food and Drug Administration.
In June 2019, Texas legalized the production, inspection and retail sale of industrial hemp crops and products, including “those for consumable hemp products which contain cannabidiol (CBD), as well as other edible parts of the hemp plant,” according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Shortly after the raids, Dye and DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez defended the operation.
Dye and Chávez declined to answer questions related to testing methods.
“We’re not going to get into a scientific debate,” Chávez said.
Dye said the department tested products from the nine hemp shops. He said samples were tested at a certified lab.
Residents also reported concerns about children’s access to hemp-based products, Dye said.
Several months before the raids, multiple businesses that sell cannabinoid products got a letter, signed by Dye, warning that the department had identified CBD and vape shops selling “illegal THC products.”
In late September, Allen passed a new zoning ordinance that limits where “smoke shops” can operate in the city. The new ordinance, passed unanimously by the city council, also outlaws minors from entering without their parent or legal guardian.
The new rules also defined smoke shops as businesses “utilized primarily for the sale of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, vapes, cigars, tobacco, pipes, and other smoking supplies.” The city has identified 24 smoke shops.
Dye told The Dallas Morning News he wants more state regulation on hemp-based products.
“It’s an underregulated industry right now, and remember, the intent of the lawmakers was medical marijuana, CBD for therapeutic uses,” Dye said. “The state of Texas has not legalized marijuana.”
