Delta-8 THC Lawsuit Fires Back on Kansas Governor

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly says she has nothing to do with a recent seizure of intoxicating hemp products in Topeka and wants a federal court to release her from a retailer’s lawsuit. Kelly’s lawyers argue that the governor shouldn’t be part of a legal battle over whether delta-8 THC products are illegal controlled substances, even if they are derived from hemp. Murray Dines, owner of Terpene Distribution and the Guardian Cannabis THC Recreational Dispensary, filed a lawsuit in June against Kelly and Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, saying that Schmidt was wrong when he issued an opinion last December calling hemp intoxicants illegal.

Dines’ store in Topeka was raided by local law enforcement this April, with roughly $120,000 worth of hemp intoxicants taken, Dines contends. The governor argued in a filing this week that she “has no connection to enforcement of the challenged Kansas criminal statutes.”