New York prosecutor to drop marijuana charges in Vermont hemp seizure

Prosecutors are planning to drop all charges against the man arrested on marijuana possession charges in connection with a case in which 106 pounds of hemp plants shipped from Vermont were mistaken as MJ and seized by the New York Police Department.

The Brooklyn district attorney’s office said that Ronen Levy’s felony marijuana possession charge will likely be dismissed Dec. 2.

Levy was arrested Nov. 2 after going to a police station to collect 106 pounds of plants that were seized during shipping from a Vermont farm. They were headed to Green Angel CBD, a retail store owned by his brother, Oren Levy.

The Levys said the plants were legal hemp used for extracting CBD.

Fox Holler Farms, the Vermont hemp farm that sent the shipment to Levy, said every box of its product contained clear documentation and test results showing undetectable levels of THC.

Under the 2018 Farm Bill, it was legal for Fox Holler to transport the hemp to Green Angel CBD in New York, as well as any other state in the country. But the NYPD said the buyer had no bill of lading to justify the delivery.

Further, the police claimed that a field test came back positive for marijuana, but those tests often can’t distinguish legal hemp from pot.

New York allows the sale of CBD products, but only if they’re labeled as dietary supplements. A bill to expand New York’s CBD law is expected to be vetoed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

– Associated Press and Hemp Industry Daily