Article from Reason by Zuri Davis.
After six years in the natural medicine business, Green Angel CBD owner John Dee has faced an obstacle so large that he could be forced to close his doors: the New York Police Department’s 75th Precinct.
Over the weekend, Dee sent a 106-pound shipment of hemp flower from a Vermont farm via FedEx Freight. FedEx thought the $30,000 shipment might be pot, so it informed the Williston Police Department in Vermont. After investigating, the cops produced a police report showing that the company was a licensed hemp grower and that the hemp’s THC content was 0.06 percent, well within the legal limit.
The Williston police advised FedEx that it would not seize the shipment, and the hemp made its way to New York. There, a FedEx driver brought in the NYPD. As the Williston police noted, the shipment was clearly marked with the proper documentation. But the New York cops officers ignored the documentation, seized the shipment, and staged the seizure as a drug bust on social media.
WATCH LIVE as @NYCMayor and @NYPDONeill update New Yorkers on October’s crime statistics.https://t.co/RcEO1lO3V1
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) November 6, 2019
Because the department is holding on to his shipment, Dee stands to lose a lot of money—and perhaps even his business. “This was our shipment,” he wrote on Instagram. “My brother was falsely arrested. Those bags were all hemp. All documents were in each box. The farm also called them to give them all there paperwork proving it’s all hemp! Please spread the word! We need to let people know we are not criminals.”
Read the entire article at Reason.
Image Credit:Â By Joi Ito (Flickr: NYPD Drills) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
wpDiscuz
The UTTERLY STUPID NYPD should have water poured on them if they ignore proper labeling!!
The UTTERLY STUPID NYPD should have RIDICULE (and a heavy civil judgment) poured on them if they ignore proper labeling!!
26 mins ago Reply
I reclon the FedEx driver should be held accountable as well see’in as how he could plainly see that the shipment was properly labeled!! Ridiculous!!
It is quite common for the various “police” to steal anything that appears valuable. They “confiscate” your property and then force you to PROVE that it is not the proceeds of drugs. In this case, they thought that they had the actual drugs. This guy should sue them for malfeasance and theft. I hope that he does.
You guys don’t know NYPD. Unlike LAPD, when they do something stupid, it’s intentional.
Perhaps NY cops can’t read.
What else would you expect from NY
Check this out- A hemp farmer had over $100,000 worth of hemp still in the field mowed down and destroyed simply because he had filed slightly erroneous GPS numbers for the field. He was also arrested and given a record. He was one of the first farmers to try hemp farming. I don’t think farmers will rush to enter this field. (Pun intended).
Forgot to mention- this was in S.C., which needs every dollar of income it can get. The farmer was lured into this fiasco by the S.C. Dept. of Agriculture.
Just look and see whom is leading the city of New York, and you can understand why the police do such stupid things. I am a retired police lieutenant and if each package of the LEGAL Hemp, was documented and papered correctly, and if FEDX was advised by Williston Police Department, clearly the NYPD, simply wanted to showboat. If the police would check the contents and test a package, it should solve the problem. But, there again, you are talking about New York.