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Six Nebraska smoke shops have agreed to stop selling synthetic THC products, according to an announcement by the state's Attorney General's Office, which has sued more than a dozen retailers for violations of state consumer protection and food safety laws.
The stores agreed to turn over any remaining products containing synthetic THC to the state within two weeks, where officials will destroy them, according to settlements the retailers reached with Nebraska. All shops have made similar agreements to no longer sell the "dangerous" products in exchange to end civil litigation, said Attorney General Mike Hilgers in a statement Thursday. He noted that more litigation could be around the corner.
"Our fight continues, and more lawsuits will be filed as we broaden our campaign," he said. "We will continue the charge against retailers selling these products which put Nebraskans at risk. We encourage retailers to stop selling these products, whether they have been sued yet or not — our campaign will continue until the industry is cleaned up."
The state reached settlement agreements with six companies: Greenhouse Grandma, A Botanical Dream, First Stop Vape Shop, High Flow Cannabis, Ms. V Shop and Zy Glam. The businesses agreed to no longer sell synthetic THC. Should they violate this, they would pay fines ranging between $18,000 to $90,000 for a first offense, according to the settlements, which were reached between April and last Thursday. Subsequent violations of the agreement would double the fine and later result in the total confiscation of all gross revenues earned from the sales since the time the complaints were initially filed.
In total, the state has filed against at least 16 retailers in 10 counties since October, a spokesperson with the attorney general's office told Law360. Recreational and medical marijuana usage is prohibited in Nebraska, though hemp-derived THC is legal provided the products contain a less than 0.03% concentration. However, the lawsuits said that synthetic produced THC is a totally different matter, as it is "unregulated, untested, and, most importantly, unsafe."
"The danger posed by products containing synthetically produced THC (and its variants, equivalents, and analogues) is deadly serious," the suits claim. "Nebraska consumers cannot predict, with any degree of certainty, the contents or potency of the THC-containing products manufactured, produced, imported, distributed, promoted, displayed for sale, offered for sale, attempted to be sold, and sold by [the various companies] prior to consumption."
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