A Georgia law that makes it legal for the retail sale of certain products that contain the main intoxicating ingredient in marijuana appears to be ambiguous and has lead to a court battle between retail shop owners and law enforcement in Northwest Georgia.
Some retail stores are suing the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force after the shops received a letter saying that products that they were selling contained an illegal amount of Delta-8 and Delta-9, two chemicals found in pot. The shop owners say that the products are legal and have had their own testing done to prove it.
A judge has said that neither law enforcement nor the retail store owners have done an adequate job of showing the difference between the health benefits and the adverse effects of the products.
The judge did say, “It is very clear to the Court that there is a difference of interpretation on what is and is not prohibited or excluded under Georgia law. Whether under any circumstances Delta 8 is a controlled substance. The Court feels that the Georgia legislatures would have explicitly limited certain hemp products with Delta 8 if they wanted it to be unlawful, which they did not.”
The lawsuit and a subsequent injunction requests asks that authorities cease the crackdown on such products immediately, and acknowledge what the federal government currently recognizes as legal.
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