Police in South Carolina have seized a shipment of 183 pounds of cannabis, believing it to be marijuana, but a hemp distributor said the product is hemp.
Glen McDonald, a distributor from Texas, said he paid $20,000-$30,000 for 70 to 100 pounds of hemp from Bio Lab Global, a hemp farm based in Charlotte, North Carolina
Samples from the cannabis shipment that was taken into custody by police in Wellford, South Carolina, were sent to the state’s law enforcement agency, according to Greenville, South Carolina, TV station WYFF.
If the samples test within the legal 0.3% THC limit, the distributor will have up to 30 days to claim the product, the police said.
“We do not want to withhold anything that’s legal from anybody,” Wellford Police Chief David Green said.
“But the way it’s packaged and the way the investigation has gone up to this point, we wanted to do our due diligence in making sure that it is what it’s said to be.”
The drivers transporting the product are not currently facing charges.
Austin Diggs, president of Bio Lab Global, told the TV station that the company is a licensed cultivator, processor and distributor of hemp and CBD products in North Carolina.
He expressed frustration with continued police action with hemp shipments despite the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent publication of the interim final rule for hemp production instructing that hemp can be legally transported across state lines.
More details about the case are available here.
