Kris Mayes moving forward with THC-infused product sale crackdown despite being sued
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is moving forward with a crackdown on vendors that sell THC-infused products without proper licensing.
Watch: Why some states' attorney generals may plan to file more lawsuits against the Trump administration | 22 mins
PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said her crackdown on unlicensed vendors selling THC-infused products is moving forward despite a lawsuit from the hemp industry.
“They wanted a judge to stop the enforcement; a judge did not,” Mayes said of the plaintiffs during a Tuesday interview with KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.
The lawsuit was filed after Mayes sent letters to retailers and law enforcement agencies clarifying that products containing delta-8 THC, delta-9 THC and similar substances can be sold only by businesses possessing valid marijuana establishment licenses.
Why Kris Mayes is cracking down on unlicensed sales of THC-infused products
She sent the letters because she wanted to enforce Arizona law and crack down on sales she saw as inappropriate and problematic.
“We are seeing a situation in which we have all these smoke shops that are selling cannabis-infused gummies, often packaged and marketed to kids,” Mayes said. “And then we have, you know, companies like Total Wine that are selling cannabis-infused drinks.”
Her letters gave companies until April 24 to come into compliance or take their THC-infused products off the shelves. THC is the primary psychoactive component of cannabis plants, aka marijuana. Dispensaries have to go through an application and approval process before being granted a license.
“We are going to go forward with enforcement,” she said. “If you’re going to sell cannabis-infused products, you have to be a licensed marijuana dispensary, essentially. That’s the law. That’s the law that Arizonans passed.”
Details about Arizona law regarding sales of THC-infused products
In November 2020, Arizona voters approved the legalization and regulation of recreational marijuana through Proposition 207. Sales began after the first licenses were issued in January 2021.
“Arizonans passed a measure that narrowly limited who could sell recreational marijuana and where,” Mayes said. “They didn’t say, ‘Oh, let’s have every smoke shop in the state of Arizona, especially, many of which are locating themselves around high schools, set up shop and then market these gummies in colorful packages to kids.'”
There will be stiff penalties for noncompliant vendors who sell THC-infused products, including potential criminal charges against retailers, she added.
However, she believes the lawsuit the hemp industry filed in an attempt to stop the crackdown is far from over.
“I think they’re appealing it, Mayes said. “I think that it eventually this will end up probably in front of the Arizona Supreme Court.”
Related
Arizona AG cracking down on sales of THC-infused products without marijuana license
Arizona residents to be allowed home recreational cannabis delivery beginning Friday
MCSO announces bust of illegitimate marijuana dispensary in Phoenix
Maricopa community colleges get $17.1M from cannabis tax in first year of legality
Thunderstorms outside Valley bring dust, winds to Phoenix metro area
Police investigating homicide after man dies being detained during southeast Phoenix fight
Comments
23 Comments
Oh and to your comment about "being annoyed" about the smell, should we just ban and criminalize everything YOU personally find annoying? Just who tf are you? Other then some whiny sounding, self righteous a-hole who thinks the entire world revolves around.
100% false. Put down your bible and use common sense for a change. The only "studies" that show any correlation to anything remotely close to what you claim are not only not peer reviewed, but are funding by corporations who have a vested interest in seeing the cannabis industry shut down.
Cannabis was WIDELY used as both a medicine and recreationally for most of human history up until around the 1920s, when lobbyist groups paid politicians to use fear mongering tactics to scare the public into thinking "marijuana" was this scary deadly drug. The vast majority of those not even realizing that "marijuana" was nothing more then the cannabis they had in their medicine cabinets at home.
They purposedly used used the term marijuana because that was the term mexicans used for the plant, and a major part of their scare tactics was based on good ol 1920s racism against mexicans and blacks. And no, im not trying to get "political", thats literally what happened. Even harry anslinger, the poster boy who was put in charge for the smear campaign, had expressed concerns that it was a waste of time to spend resources and effort to ban, and enforce said ban, on a harmless plant that everyone used.
However, around that time yet another big event happened. Alcohol prohibition ended. Right when a certain three letter agency was just formed to combat bootlegging known as the FBI. They needed another "boogyman" to go after in order to justify spending tax dollars on that agency, and this "anti marijuana" smear campaign was the perfect answer.
And even THEN, while still effectively banning it, it wasnt technically "outlawed". Instead they passed the marijuana tax stamp act of 1937, which stated in order to sell it, you had to get a tax stamp to show taxes were paid on it. However you couldnt get a tax stamp unless you were in possession of it. This of course, was illegal in itself and was challenged and overturned in the 60s. It wasnt until nixon passed the controlled substance act of 1970 where he made sure it was listed as "the most dangerous substance" soley as a hit to the hippies and counterculture movement who were protested the vietnam war.
He knew he couldnt legally go after hippies for protesting and being outspoken of the war, but he could if their drugs of choice (cannabis, lsd and mushrooms, which were all legal until that point) were outlawed. This plan was heavily documented and nixons own advisers came out, on record and publicaly admitted it. Even with all of that, alaska almost immediately decriminalized it as they knew it was rediculous and refused to play ball.
Our country was literally founded on cannabis. It was everywhere, a major cash crop and farmers were required to grow a certain amount of it or risk being fined it was of such importance. If anything you claim to say was even remotely true, humanity would have died out long ago what with all the rampant cancer and birth defects it allegedly causes, according to you.
Theres your little history lesson. Be smarter and stop mindlessly regurgetating a bunch of made up nonsense thats only about 100 years old, which is nothing but a tiny spec of the entirety of human civilization.
If Mayes belongs in prison then Brnovich should have gotten the firing squad. You MAGA dopes sure love that (R).