2 charged with Marijuana distribution after police search Surfside Beach hemp store
Two Charged for Marijuana Distribution at Hemp Shop After THC Levels Exceed Legal Limits.
Surfside Beach Police charged two people with distributing marijuana after alleging that a local hemp shop sold products that contained illegal levels of THC.
Following a three-month investigation, police searched Delta Dispensary on Sept. 12, according to a news release from the town. Local officers were assisted by state and federal authorities.
Police said their investigation focused on "the sale of unregulated and untested substances that were represented as hemp."
"However, forensic analysis of these products indicates they are well in excess of the state-regulated limits for THC, containing significantly higher amounts of the compound and thus meeting the definition of marijuana," the release said.
Hemp products, like Delta-8 and Delta-9, are legal to possess and sell in South Carolina as long as they have minimal levels of THC, the ingredient active in marijuana that causes a specific high.
Police have charged 46-year-old Jason Joseph Papotto of Myrtle Beach with two counts of marijuana distribution and two counts of marijuana distribution near a school or park, according to the release. They also charged 45-year-old Sabrena Lee Papotto with one count each of marijuana distribution and marijuana distribution near a school or park.
A representative for Delta Dispensary could not be reached.
This isn't the first Grand Strand hemp store to draw scrutiny from authorities.
In July, federal officials warned a Murrells Inlet company to stop marketing Delta-8 products that resemble popular children’s candy and snacks.
In recent years, state officials have grappled with regulating THC products.
Earlier this year, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study shedding more light on THC’s popularity among high school students.
A nationwide analysis of drug usage showed that 1 in 10 high school seniors had used Delta-8 THC. Rates of usage were found to be higher in the South and in states without existing regulations for THC or marijuana.
The 2018 federal farm bill legalized hemp, which is any cannabis plant that contains less than 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC. The hemp industry has taken this law to mean that it can manufacture products containing up to this level of the chemical.
There is debate about whether other the forms of THC, like Delta-8 and Delta-10, are made explicitly legal by the same law.
