Tales of law enforcement destroying hemp plants after mistaking them for illicit marijuana have run rampant through the industry. But what happens after, when a legal hemp grower’s crop has been destroyed and they have nothing to show for it?
One New York-based nursery is looking to find out. Toadflax Nursery, based in South Glens Falls, recently filed a lawsuit against the Washington County sheriff and other department employees after deputies allegedly destroyed more than 250 of its hemp plants in 2019.
The Daily Gazette reports Toadflax Nursery received a state license to grow hemp in May 2019. The nursery reportedly labeled each hemp plant with tags identifying the owners and state license.
However, the case alleges deputies destroyed the plants without checking any of the information on the labels, the Gazette reports.
“Defendants’ blatant destruction of Plaintiffs’ entirely legal property constituted, among other things, an unconstitutional search and seizure, occurred without any semblance of due process and with absolutely no finding of culpable or illegal conduct on behalf of Plaintiffs,” the suit reads.
The incident happened last October, when deputies were patrolling near the Toadflax property and saw a group of people walking through a nearby field toward a car. The deputies then stopped the car and saw plants laying on the side of the road, according to the Gazette.
Within an hour, deputies had entered the nursery and began “pulling and uprooting the plants, which were all growing in cultivated soil there,” the Gazette reports.
Toadflax Nursery, Z&M Farm and Richard W. Morris Jr., the manager of both Toadflax and Z&M Farm, are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The county, Sheriff Jeffrey J. Murphy and several sheriff’s department employees are named as defendants.
The case is moving through the state supreme court in Washington County. No monetary damages were specified in the suit, but the company is alleging unconstitutional search and seizure, violation of due process, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress
