Hemp business owners say court ruling could negatively impact customers

Channel 9 told you last week about a court ruling in North Carolina that changed what gives police the probable cause to search without a warrant.

Some locals involved in the hemp industry told Channel 9′s Evan Donovan the ruling puts their business in danger.

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“What a lot of people don’t realize is all these different definitions and terms for cannabis, whether it be recreational, medical or hemp, is all the same plant,” said Mike Sims, the owner of Crowntown Cannabis in Charlotte.

When it comes to marijuana and hemp, Sims knows his stuff.

“[Anything] 0.3% by dry weight volume or less is considered hemp, anything above that is considered marijuana,” Sims told Donovan.

Sims has a chain of shops selling hemp products, including vapes. He says a new court ruling in North Carolina turns his customers into potential criminals.

“A lot of times it can lead to further searches,” Sims said.

The NC Court of Appeals ruled that police can start a search if they smell marijuana, reversing a previous ruling. That ruling comes even though the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation says no human or K-9 can tell the difference between the smells of legal hemp and illegal marijuana.

“It’s literally the same plant, it smells the same, it tastes the same, it looks the same. The only difference you can tell is by testing results,” said Sims.

Several recent studies have found those tests are often inconsistent and inaccurate.

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The three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals ruled that police have the right to investigate behavior that looks suspicious, even if it later turns out to be legal.

That’s what a Charlotte couple says happened last November when they were smoking a legal hemp product near a Bojangles. When officers approached them, it led to a violent arrest and then public outrage. The district attorney eventually dropped the charges, while the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department stands by its initial statement that they were smoking an illegal substance.

It’s exactly the type of situation that Sims wants to avoid.

“We’ve begged and we’ve pleaded with lawmakers, law enforcement to please help us clarify this gray area or give us some kind of standard that we can allow our customers to do leaving here to ensure they don’t get in further trouble,” Sims said.

Attorneys for the juvenile charged in the original marijuana case that led to the Court of Appeals ruling can still appeal. They can ask the full panel of appeals court judges to hear their case or petition the North Carolina Supreme Court.

(VIDEO: Local hemp grower pushes for bill that would legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina)