A man arrested during Allen Police Hemp Store Searches in August, filed a lawsuit this week, seeking federal court 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 stores in the city, accusing them of selling hemp products containing 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 products to an 18-year-old man without verifying his identity, his arrest warrant affidavit states.

There is no age limit in Texas for purchasing consumable hemp products, including those intended for smoking.

Authorities, including the city’s police chief, Steve Dye, described the situation as a crackdown on illicit products disguised as legal and sold in a gray area of ​​regulation. They said the products seized and tested by police had THC levels of 7 to 78 percent, compared to 0.3 percent — the legal limit in the state.

David Sergi, Khan’s lawyer, said authorities targeted his client and similar businesses and filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to intervene.

“The DEA, the Allen Police Department and the Collin County Sheriff’s Office targeted Khan’s small business, bringing in the full force of the federal government, in conjunction with an aggressive police department and search for headlines, and together they treated Khan like the kingpin of a drug cartel. , although hemp is legal,” Tuesday’s filing said.

Khan is a director of Allen Smoke & Vape and Vape, according to the filing.

In addition to all the inventory seized during the raid, Sergi said his client, whom he represents on behalf of the Texas Hemp Industry Leadersasks the court to protect him from further harassment by law enforcement.

“The lawsuit aims to change the behavior of Allen authorities towards hemp stores and send the message that hemp is legal,” Sergi said.

Sergi said his client agreed that hemp products should not be sold to people under 21, but added that he thought it was problematic that law enforcement order “do not care about the law”.

Khan’s warrant also showed that the products authorities tested involved THCa, a chemical compound that turns into THC when heated. In the filing, Sergi argued that the testing method – gas chromatography – used by authorities heats the THCa in the products, making the samples look illegal.

The lawsuit requested that any additional product testing be conducted by methods that do not alter a product’s original THC content, which include, but is not limited to, high-performance liquid chromatography.

The products Khan sold to the 18-year-old man were later tested to contain 17.5% and 1.88% THC, well above the limit. Although Tuesday’s filing also names the labs that produced the required certificate of analysis for the products, Sergi said that part of the lawsuit could be changed.

“We came to the conclusion that it’s not worth suing the labs because that’s actually what Allen PD did,” Sergi said.

The 2018 Farm Bill defined “hemp” as “cannabis and cannabis derivatives containing not more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis,” separating hemp products from the definition of “marijuana,” according to the 2018 Farm Bill. 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 that contain cannabidiol (CBD), as well as other edible parts of the hemp plant,” according to Texas. 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 are not going to get into a scientific debate,” Chávez said.

Dye said the department tested products from all nine hemp stores. He said the samples were tested in a certified laboratory.

Residents have also raised concerns about children’s access to hemp products, Dye said.

Several months before the raids, several businesses selling cannabinoid products received a letter, signed by Dye, warning that the department had identified CBD and vaping stores selling “illegal THC products.”

At the end of September, Allen spent a new zoning bylaw this limits where “smoke shops” can operate in the city. The new ordinance, passed unanimously by the City Council, also prohibits minors from entering without their parent or legal guardian.

The new rules also define smoke shops as businesses “used primarily for the sale of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vapes, cigars, tobacco, pipes and other smokers’ articles.” The city has identified 24 smoking rooms.

Dye told the Dallas Morning News he wants more state regulation of hemp products.

“It’s an underregulated industry right now, and remember the intent of the legislators was medical marijuana, CBD for therapeutic purposes,” Dye said. “The State of Texas has not legalized marijuana.”