{"id":9189,"date":"2026-04-18T05:55:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/missouri-hemp-stores-say-products-are-legal-dispute-evidence-behind-ag-crackdown\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T05:55:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:55:49","slug":"missouri-hemp-stores-say-products-are-legal-dispute-evidence-behind-ag-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/missouri-hemp-stores-say-products-are-legal-dispute-evidence-behind-ag-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri hemp stores say products are legal, dispute evidence behind AG crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
\n

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announces the state’s lawsuit against American Shaman in a press conference outside her office March 31, 2026 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has ordered 33 stores to stop selling intoxicating hemp products, but many shop owners say the products remain legal under federal law and plan to keep selling them until new federal restrictions take effect Nov. 12<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

They also question the basis for Hanaway\u2019s crackdown, which relies heavily on lab results gathered by the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, a marijuana-industry group whose members compete with hemp retailers.<\/span><\/p>\n

About half of the smoke shops and hemp stores targeted by the attorney general argue they\u2019re in compliance with the federal law until November, according to the Missouri Hemp Trade Association.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMissouri follows federal law, which we follow as well,\u201d J.C. Cirese, owner of Dr. Smoke in Kansas City. \u201cWhen I started in this industry in 2019, that was what we followed, and nothing has changed \u2014 not until Nov. 12.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanaway\u2019s office issued 33 cease-and-desist letters last month, ordering stores to stop selling things like pre-rolled joints or canisters of \u201cTHCA hemp flower\u201d that allegedly contain more than .3% of total THC on a dry weight basis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The letters also state shop owners can no longer use language such as cannabis, marijuana, weed and kush that illegally \u201cdeceive consumers\u201d into believing the shops are a licensed marijuana dispensary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some businesses were ordered to stop selling products that contain heavy metals, pesticides or other foreign substances \u2013 or were made to be attractive to children. The letters did not list specific products that violated the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing lab testing, it was confirmed many of these businesses sold substances which contained lead, arsenic, mercury, ethanol, and other contaminants, solvents, pesticides or unknown byproducts,\u201d Hanaway\u2019s press release stated, announcing the letters in March.<\/span><\/p>\n

The letters went to 18 stores in the St. Louis region, 13 in the Kansas City area and two in Springfield last month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Independent obtained the cease-and-desist letters through a public records request, but the office denied a request for the lab results, saying they\u2019re part of an ongoing investigation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanaway\u2019s spokeswoman, Stephanie Whitaker, confirmed the state lab didn\u2019t conduct any testing as part of the investigation or order any testing from independent labs. The lab testing cited in her letters were provided through complaints, she said, and conducted by licensed Missouri marijuana labs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s ammunition came largely from secret-shopper lab results provided by the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, a trade organization that represents marijuana business owners, professionals and consumers.<\/span><\/p>\n

In October, MoCann released a report titled, \u201c<\/span>The Missouri Hemp Hoax Report<\/span><\/a>,\u201d where the association sent 55 products purchased from smoke shops and gas stations across the state to licensed marijuana testing labs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the report, 96% were actually marijuana, not legal hemp, because of the amount of total THC in the products.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Mullins, executive director of MoCann Trade, said the lab results \u201cproved that these bad actors were perpetrating a fraud on Missourians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the 33 businesses that received letters from Hanaway, all but two were businesses named in MoCann\u2019s report.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MoCann\u2019s lab test results were linked in the report\u2019s website, and the claims in the attorney general\u2019s letters largely match those results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe MoCann list was provided to us, as well as other complaints from law enforcement and city and county officials,\u201d Whitaker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cease-and-desist letters were signed by Assistant Attorney General Jane Dueker, who is leading what Hanaway\u2019s office informally calls the \u201cvice squad.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Intoxicating hemp products with as much as 1,000 mg of THC <\/span><\/a>are being sold in smoke shops \u2014 outside of Missouri\u2019s licensed marijuana dispensaries \u2014 and they aren\u2019t regulated by any government agency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dueker met with police, county prosecutors and mayors\u2019 offices across the state as part of the investigation, Whitaker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese unlicensed dispensaries are peddling dangerous, deceptive and intoxicating cannabis and marijuana products,\u201d Hanaway said in her March press release. \u201cMy office is prepared to use the full extent of our authority to hold bad actors accountable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018The word of our competitors\u2019<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

Cameron Fleet, owner of Center Smoke in Independence, was confused when he received the letter from the attorney general\u2019s office last month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the points that she made I don\u2019t think apply to us,\u201d Fleet said, \u201cso I thought maybe it was just a generic letter. We don\u2019t have a sign that says dispensary or marijuana. We\u2019ve been a smoke shop selling CBD for a very long time, before corporate cannabis became a thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fleet\u2019s letter is the only one of the 33 that claimed a THC candy-like product was being sold. It claims he\u2019s selling a THC Nerd Rope candy, which he said he\u2019s never sold. The letter also states that pesticides and heavy metals were found in lab tests of his products.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to undermine the attorney general, but we\u2019re definitely questioning where this is coming from,\u201d Fleet said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
J.C. Cirese, owner of Dr. Smoke in Kansas City, received a letter from Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway\u2019s Office, ordering his store to stop \u201cdeceiving\u201d customers into believing they\u2019re buying marijuana. Cirese argues he isn\u2019t (photo submitted).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The claims match <\/span>lab test<\/span><\/a> results MoCann\u2019s report alleges were products bought in his store, and the testing was conducted by Missouri\u2019s largest licensed marijuana lab, Green Precision Analytics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile MoCann Trade is \u2026making these websites and lobbying against us, trying to get us shut down,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s just awfully convenient that the attorney general would also step in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MoCann has led the push for legislation to ban intoxicating products<\/a> in Missouri, which has received pushback <\/a>from the hemp industry.<\/p>\n

Fleet and other owners are confused about why only 33 stores that sell THCA hemp flower received letters because there\u2019s many more stores out there that do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only correlation that we found out amongst ourselves is the stores that were posted on Missouri Hemp Hoax got a letter,\u201d Fleet said, \u201cand that website was funded by MoCann Trade.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cirese argues, \u201ctaking the word of our competitors might not be the best way to approach it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After receiving the letter, he said his team \u201cdouble checked\u201d the lab results they do to make sure they all passed for pesticides and foreign substances. His store has been around since before recreational marijuana was legalized in 2022, and he said marijuana legalization advocates used the success of stores like his as a way to get the initiative passed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never been given the opportunity to have licensing in Missouri,\u201d he said. \u201cHow do we get the same treatment for hemp as say marijuana, which the marijuana advocates used hemp as a platform to run on?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u2018Hemp Hoax\u2019<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

MoCann\u2019s report found that 29% of the products tested had dangerous contaminants such as pesticides, mold, heavy metals and residual solvents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe made these detailed lab results available to the public, as well as law enforcement and policymakers, to show that convenience stores and smoke shops across our state are unequivocally selling marijuana and calling it hemp,\u201d Mullins said in a statement to The Independent, \u201cbecause then it isn\u2019t taxed, isn\u2019t regulated, and doesn\u2019t have to be lab tested.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The report also states the legal limit for a cannabis plant to be considered hemp is .3% total THC or less, and that\u2019s measured by combining Delta-9 THC and THCA, <\/span>according to federal guidelines.<\/span><\/a> The cease-and-desist letters state the attorney general also used this measurement method.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these products contained far more THC than allowed by law, with one product found to contain up to 89% THC, which is 298 times the legal limit,\u201d MoCann\u2019s October press release about the report states.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Andrew Mullins, executive director of the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, speaks with industry members during the association\u2019s annual lobby day last year at the state Capitol (Rebecca Rivas\/Missouri Independent).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The hemp stores disagree with this method of measuring THC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cirese said the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp, \u201cclearly states\u201d that the measurement is only Delta-9 THC and not total THC, which would include THCA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

THCA doesn\u2019t become intoxicating until heated, which is why a joint only gets people high when it\u2019s lit, not when it\u2019s eaten. However, it will mean total THC when a federal provision kicks in Nov. 12.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure where that interpretation comes from,\u201d Cirese said. \u201cThere\u2019s no Missouri law that states total THC either, so we\u2019re just going by the federal farm bill.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

MoCann <\/span>argues in the report<\/span><\/a>, \u201cIn short, THCA flower is marijuana under federal law, not hemp.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CBD Kratom in Tower Grove neighborhood also received a letter. Craig Katz, the company\u2019s manager of government compliance, called the allegations \u201cmisguided and false.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CBD Kratom is a large company, he said, that has the resources to have in-house legal counsel. But most of the stores on the attorney general\u2019s list don\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that 95% of the businesses they\u2019re mom and pops, they\u2019re small entrepreneurs or family farmers, or whatever they are,\u201d he said. \u201cThey see a letter like that coming with the seal of the state of Missouri on it, and they get worried. But if you\u2019re not doing anything wrong, then you should be able to deal with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announces the state’s lawsuit against American Shaman in a press conference outside her office March 31, 2026 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent). Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has ordered 33 stores to stop selling intoxicating hemp products, but many shop owners say the products remain legal under federal law and plan to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMissouri hemp stores say products are legal, dispute evidence behind AG crackdown - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/missouri-hemp-stores-say-products-are-legal-dispute-evidence-behind-ag-crackdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missouri hemp stores say products are legal, dispute evidence behind AG crackdown - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announces the state’s lawsuit against American Shaman in a press conference outside her office March 31, 2026 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent). 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