Owners of CBD businesses are looking over their shoulders after a Greenville County law enforcement initiative to crack down on hemp products was announced in early February.
During a Feb. 7 press conference at the Greenville County Courthouse, 13th Circuit Solicitor Walter Wilkins and Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis announced a drug enforcement unit will begin cracking down on retailers selling CBD delta-9 products over 0.3% THC, or Tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component of cannabis.
Wilkins and Lewis also announced those selling products with delta-8 and delta-10 compounds of cannabis will also risk prosecution, although these compounds fall into a murkier legal category. In 2018, U.S. Congress passed the Agriculture Improvement Act or “Farm Bill” that removed hemp products as a controlled substance, which means any cannabis derivatives with less than 0.3% THC are federally legal.
“At the end of the day, if it gets you high, it’s illegal in South Carolina, bottom line,” Wilkins said.
CBD retailers aren’t taking any chances, as many in Greenville County now are having to clear their shelves of any items that put them at risk of prosecution.
“It has been a precautionary measure just to make sure I’m following in compliance with what is being deemed illegal,” Rudy DiBridge, owner of Full Life CBD in Greenville, said.
The Greenville Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit, the multi-agency team assigned to the crackdown, will be testing the products…
