Dallas attorney Chelsie Spencer specializes in making sure Texas businesses that sell hemp-derived THC products know how to stay in compliance with state and federal rules and regulations, an area that can be very confusing. She offers them a monthly service where her law firm rigorously vets distributors and helps to independently test their products to ensure they are safe and legal to sell in her clients’ stores.
“They pay us a phenomenal amount to stay compliant,” Spencer said.
That is why when Spencer learned that one of her North Texas clients had been raided by local police and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and his home surrounded, like he was a major narcotics dealer, she was shocked.
“They took everything from my client…his children’s cellphones, every computer in the house, took all the vehicles, seized all assets, and froze all cash,” Spencer said of the raid that occurred in July.
Since August 2024, local and federal law enforcement agencies have raided more than 15 businesses across the state that were accused of selling consumable hemp products that had illegal levels of THC, according to attorneys for these cannabis retailers. During these raids, law enforcement officials seized products and cash that businesses have still not recovered, and customers were scared away. Many of those retailers have not yet been found guilty of any crime, according to their attorneys.
“You always see the headlines about the raids, but you never see these huge headlines about charges and indictments,” said Andrea Steel, a Houston attorney for several THC businesses.
Even though they have affected a small fraction of 8,000 hemp retailers registered in Texas, these raids by law enforcement agencies have ramped up over the last two years to help some lawmakers build public support for banning hemp-derived THC products, Steel said. Over the summer, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vetoed a bill the Legislature passed to ban hemp-derived THC and told state agencies to better regulate those THC products instead.
But, she said her clients fear these types of raids will continue because the new regulations being considered could create THC limits that will be nearly impossible to meet, shuttering THC businesses and deterring businesses from selling THC products.
“The same number of raids are occurring after the veto as before. In fact, there will likely be an increase in raids once the new rules and regulations are finalized because one of them is an increase in licensing fees for enforcement; they are going to need to justify that,” she said.
Law enforcement agencies deny that these raids were politically motivated. They have said these raids were based on concerns that these retailers were selling dangerous products, especially to children, and engaging in other unscrupulous activities such as money laundering, according to a news conference from Allen police, as well as a joint one between Temple and Belton police departments. Allen Police Chief Steve Dyes, whose department raided at least a dozen businesses and warehouses since 2024, was a fixture at the Texas Capitol during the legislative session, warning lawmakers that the hemp industry was corrupt and couldn’t be trusted.
Hellbound and Down 