Store owners battle Union Township over claims they sold Marijuana, not hemp products
Lack of Regulation on Delta-8 THC Products Puts Union Hemp Store and Others at Risk, Attorneys Say.
Attorneys for a Union hemp store whose owner was arrested after authorities claimed he was illegally selling marijuana say the lack of regulation of products that contain delta-8 THC puts other hemp businesses statewide in jeopardy.
The store, Delta Don, remains shuttered as its owners battle Union Township in court. Its owners say they were not selling marijuana, but Union officials say they have tested the store’s products and believe otherwise.
John Kim, represents Delta Don in its civil case against Union and the township’s city manager, a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Union County in December. Kim said the town’s crusade against the store is “very troubling.”
“We feel this has an enormous impact on businesses all across the state that are selling hemp, CBD oils, herb products — all of which are hemp and not marijuana,” Kim said.
Delta Don owners Juan Addison and Gabriel Yi are accusing the town of violating their due process rights and wrongfully revoking their certificate of occupancy, which is required to operate a business in New Jersey.
The pair opened Delta Don in Union in April 2023, selling hemp-derived vapes and other products that contain less than 0.3% of THC, they claim in the suit. These hemp products are legal under New Jersey and federal law, the plaintiffs note, though they are not evaluated or approved by federal or state agencies, unlike cannabis.
By August, the duo had already received a warning from local law enforcement that they were being investigated for selling marijuana products without the required license.
The store was raided by Union police officers on September 20. After officers searched the premises and found no marijuana, and despite Addison’s “unfettered cooperation” with the police, the lawsuit says, police seized the store’s legal hemp products, cash, and other items; alleged Addison and Yi were selling marijuana without a license; and arrested Addison and charged him with selling marijuana to an undercover cop.
Two days later, the town revoked the store’s certificate of continued occupancy.
Their store has remained shuttered since it was raided, prompting the business owners to file suit, Kim said. He noted Yi and Addison operate another store in New Brunswick selling the same products, and that hasn’t been shut down or subject to the same scrutiny from local police.
In a brief filed with the court, Union officials say they tested the products police seized from Delta Don and claim they test positive for THC, the chemical in cannabis that gets users high. But Kim said that the city’s results are vague and don’t describe how the product was tested, which he said makes their findings unreliable.
Daniel Antonelli, Union Township attorney, said the township is within its rights to revoke the store’s certificate to operate based on law enforcement’s investigation of “their illegal activity and subsequent charges” against Addison. He added the township wouldn’t comment further on the litigation.
In January, a judge cited the test results in her denial of a motion by Delta Don to remain open as the trial plays out. She said there is a “strong public interest in protecting the public from the illegal distribution of marijuana.”
Kim called the judge’s decision “a battle in the long war.”
Attorneys are in the discovery process now, and Kim expects the trial to begin within a few months.
Addison is a defendant in the criminal case with Union Township, and Kim hopes they can obtain the seized products so they can test it themselves. Because hemp products can look like marijuana, he wants it to undergo rigorous testing. He said Delta Don is selling the same items that can be found at nearly any gas station, bodega, or smoke shop across the country.
“This is very troubling at a time when our policies, our state, is moving against arresting people for marijuana in criminal cases,” he said.
The New Jersey Assembly last year unanimously approved a bill that would ban products with delta-8, but it was never taken up by the Senate.
