HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Rio CBD on Jackson Street was raided by the Harlingen Police Department on June, 6.
“All of a sudden, my door opens up, armed men, H-P-D come in. They say they have a search warrant. Guns are drawn. They start clearing rooms,” store owner, Trevor Kocaoglan said.
Kocaoglan said police then raided his mother’s home.
According to Kocaoglan, the police were notified by UPS about a package mailed to him from his supplier in Oregon that smelled like marijuana.
“The difficulty with that smell test, is that you can’t rely on it anymore, because hemp smells exactly the same way as marijuana, and hemp is legal,” Executive Director of the Texas Hemp Federation, Jay Maguire said.
Both Maguire and Kocaoglan said the incident is a misunderstanding of the law.
“There’s a lack of education around what’s legal and what’s not, because there are many different cannabinoids. The one that is the big one that is illegal in Texas still, is Delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol,” Maguire added.
The Texas Health and Safety Code, established by House Bill 1325, says consumable hemp products are legal in Texas, as long as the levels of Delta 9 THC aren’t above 0.3%.
Kocaoglan said his products fall below that threshold and all of his shipments come with Certificates of Analysis from a DEA…