Earlier this fall, we reported that the NYPD had confiscated 106 pounds of perfectly legal hemp after mistaking it for illegal cannabis. The hemp farmers were unjustly charged with 6 felony counts of drug trafficking charges. The Brooklyn DA’s Office told the judge they were dropping the charges this week, according to the New York Post.
“The People have been presented with evidence that the substance seized in this case contains less than .06 percent THC, which makes the substance legal hemp under federal and state law,” Prosecutor Kerri Row told Judge Raymond Rodriguez.
While this is the right thing for the New York court system to do, the unjustly charged farmers of Fox Holler Farms in New Haven, Vermont might not even get their hemp back. The hemp is reportedly worth about $60,000. According to the story that appears in the New York Post, the DA’s office rep claimed that the hemp might not be returned because the wholesaler representing Fox Holler Farms doesn’t have a license.
“Because the substance appears to have been imported outside of New York’s regulatory guidelines, the release of the property would be a determination to be made by the NYPD in consultation with the Department of Agriculture,” the DA’s office rep said.
The wholesaler is called Green Angel. The reports say that Green Angel’s lawyer and the DA office rep got into a “shouting match” outside of the courthouse.
The DA rep, Oren Yaniv, said that by law, “All processors need to have a license, and your client doesn’t have a license!”
Green Angel lawyer Michael Arbeit retorted, “He’s a wholesaler! Processor means a farmer!”
Instead of admitting their fault and returning the unjustly confiscated hemp NYPD doubled down and insisted the hemp wasn’t legal in New York.
“In New York State, hemp sale and possession/distribution is only permissible when the buyer and seller have the proper permissions from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. In this case, neither the seller nor the buyer had those permissions,” the NYPD said in a statement to the New York Post.
Green Angel’s lawyers say that they are planning a $10 million lawsuit against the NYPD.
