Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers ramped up his fight against retailers selling intoxicating hemp products through 82 more cease-and-desist letters sent June 18 to businesses in Lincoln.
The state’s top legal officer claimed the stores are selling products containing noncompliant amounts of THC or unlawful synthetic cannabinoids. This week’s letters sent to businesses in the state’s capital follow 104 letters that Hilgers’ office sent in March to similar stores operating in Omaha.
To date, the attorney general’s office has sent cease-and-desist letters to 204 stores statewide, alleging that they’re violating the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act for unfair and/or deceptive practices, and that they’re violating the state’s Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Nebraska Pure Food Act.
“Our office’s testing showed that nearly every one of these products were mislabeled,” Hilgers said about products his office and the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office purchased from stores owned by 39 different companies. “
“This industry has shown itself to be completely irresponsible,” he said. “It operates without regard to the health or safety of Nebraskans by selling these poisonous and mislabeled products into the capital city.”
Hilger’s office demanded that each store sign a settlement document indicating their assurance of voluntary compliance to cease all sales of THC-containing products or face litigation. The stores have 30 days to comply with the demands.
Each store that the sheriff and attorney general’s offices investigated had at least one product marketed as hemp that was over the 0.3% delta-9 THC limit, qualifying as cannabis, according to Hilger. In addition, more than 90% of the products had inaccurate labels, according to his office.
“This lack of proper labeling means that the stores are engaging in deceptive, unfair and unsafe trade practices, and also engaging in the sale of controlled substances,” according to Hilger’s office. “Many of the stores have tobacco licenses and also sell synthetically produced THC-containing products, which may put their tobacco licenses at risk.”
Selling any amount of cannabis in Nebraska is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison with a $25,000 maximum fine.
Hilgers indicated in March that his office plans to seek maximum penalties and fines against retailers selling noncompliant products containing intoxicating hemp derivatives, including up to a $4,000 fine for each individual sale of a noncompliant product.
The attorney general’s enforcement efforts come after the Nebraska Legislature failed to pass legislation, Legislative Bill 316, that Sen. Kathleen Kauth, R-Omaha, sponsored in an attempt to redefine hemp, prohibit certain products containing the plant’s derivatives, and regulate serving sizes to 10 milligrams of total THC per package.
Kauth told Nebraska Public Media that she supports Hilgers’ actions.
“Hopefully, more stores will say, ‘Hey, listen. Oh, guess what? We shouldn’t be selling this,’ or ‘We’ve heard stores that are very much like ours are getting hit with these letters and are having to rush to get stuff off of their shelves. Let’s start winding down,’” Kauth told the news outlet.
