2 days Ago By Robert McCoppin
A raid and criminal charges against a suburban smoke shop owner have ignited a dispute over enforcement of hemp laws, with the store owner filing a lawsuit claiming improper arrest — all while officials in several towns consider bans and Illinois legislators debate new hemp regulations. Increasingly, the broader controversy is prompting cities and villages to ban hemp, while state lawmakers are considering regulations that hemp business operators say would put many of them out of business. One case in particular has boiled down the quarrel to its most hotly disputed points of contention.
In East Dundee, about an hour’s drive northwest of downtown Chicago, police in August raided a hemp store called the Smoke House. They confiscated the store’s inventory and arrested manager Bilal Hussaini. They let him go a few hours later, but in November, after sending the products away to be tested, they charged him with misdemeanor possession and felony manufacture or delivery of cannabis.
On Christmas Eve, Hussaini’s attorney filed suit against the village, several police officers involved in the raid and police Chief Joshua Fourdyce. Hussaini’s mother, who owns the store, and an employee were also named as plaintiffs. “It didn’t make any sense to me, why they did this,” Hussaini said.
“It’s completely legal to sell. ..
. They’re trying to frame me.” Bilal Hussaini and his wife, Gabriela Gomez, stand behind the counter at his store, the Smoke House, on Dec.
31, 2024, in East Dundee. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) A customer walks past a cabinet full of THC-A products in the the Smoke House on Dec. 31, 2024, in East Dundee.
(Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) A large display criticizing the East Dundee Police Department for its raid in August greets customers at the Smoke House, Dec. 31, 2024, in East Dundee. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Bilal Hussaini talks with a customer at the Smoke House on Dec.
31, 2024, in East Dundee. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Gabriela Gomez holds packages of Hits Blunt, a product that was confiscated by police in a raid in August, in her husband's store, the Smoke House, on Dec. 31, 2024, in East Dundee.
(Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Bilal Hussaini watches his macaw, Nala, fly at the Smoke House, Dec. 31, 2024, in East Dundee. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Bilal Hussaini and his wife, Gabriela Gomez, stand behind the counter at his store, the Smoke House, on Dec.
31, 2024, in East Dundee. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Hemp was legalized by the 2018 federal Farm Bill that defined it as the cannabis plant and “all derivatives” that have less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, the component of marijuana that gets users stoned.
The primary intent was to allow non-psychoactive products like CBD. But producers found ways to synthetically derive other cannabinoids, such as delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC and THC-O, that do get users high. That has led to a nationwide explosion of shops that sell hemp products, including gas stations and convenience stores.
Unlike state-licensed cannabis dispensaries, hemp products generally are not required to undergo testing to verify potency and purity. They have no age restriction and, in some cases, tests have shown that they contain impurities and delta-9 THC. But Hussaini said he showed police certificates of analysis that all his products were tested to stay below the legal delta-9 THC threshold.
The gas chromatography lab test the police used, he said, is flawed because it heats up the plant material and turns benign THCA, a precursor of THC, into psychoactive THC. As a result, the suit alleges constitutional violations and intentional infliction of emotional distress, stating that Hussaini “was subjected to unlawful arrest and detention based on fabricated and manipulated evidence.” Police did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
At a Village Board meeting in November, Chief Fourdyce told trustees the products tested well above the limit for THC. He asked the board to consider banning the sale of all hemp products in the village, a proposal supported by Village President Jeff Lynam. Trustee Scott Kunze opposed the ban, saying, “I don’t think it works.
It causes more unintended problems than it solves.” The test the police used has been the gold standard for such analysis, and THCA should be included as part of total THC, as federal law enforcement traditionally has done, said Jeff Rawson, founder of the nonprofit Institute of Cannabis Science. He considers arguments to the contrary “willful denial and disinformation” by people trying to capitalize on an unregulated loophole.
But, he conceded, federal law does not make testing standards as clear as it should have. From a legal standpoint, judges in at least two federal districts have ruled that such testing alters the evidence in the case. Other tests can differentiate between delta-9 THC and other cannabinoids.
Elsewhere, after being sued, authorities in Texas and Tennessee have agreed to pay $80,000 and $735,000, respectively, to settle lawsuits alleging illegal seizure of hemp products, with more litigation pending in other cases. In Illinois, some suburbs are trying to avoid the conflict altogether. Antioch, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Highland Park, Lake Zurich, Tinley Park, Orland Park, Waukegan and Wheeling have outlawed or limited the sale of hemp products.
Several states, including Indiana and Tennessee, have banned or limited hemp products, though such measures often are challenged in court. Last year, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration issued a warning that delta-8 THC products “have not been evaluated or approved for safe use in any context.” Illinois’ annual cannabis report found that there’s been a spike in the sale of high-THCA hemp flower. Though the U.
S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers THCA a controlled substance, the state hemp act does not address it, and police often struggle to convince prosecutors to go after hemp products above the legal limit because of federal law. The issue may ultimately be decided at a higher level.
While Congress has failed to clarify the Farm Bill, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker supports enacting a law to license, tax and regulate hemp. The measure passed the state Senate almost unanimously, and may be considered by the House in the first week of this year.
In November, lawmakers approved allowing the Illinois Department of Agriculture to tighten its regulations on hemp. The Illinois Hemp Business Association protested that such changes unlawfully favor huge licensed cannabis companies, and said it may mount a legal challenge. The association warned that the proposed new law would effectively ban even non-psychoactive components like CBD.
At the Smoke House, police eventually returned most of the confiscated inventory, Hussaini said, but the seizure hurt his business and prevented some customers with medical issues from getting their products. Hussaini’s family started the business at the now-defunct nearby Spring Hill Mall, before moving to Elgin, where Hussaini said city officials and police were very supportive, and helpful investigating break-ins. The store relocated in 2023 to East Dundee, across the street from Santa’s Village.
The shop is known for pet parrots that fly about freely. Hussaini said he supports testing, labeling and taxing hemp products, saying: “Our commitment has always been to serve our community responsibly.”.
