Officials who claimed to be from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seized CBD edibles from an Arizona smoke shop last week, according to media reports. David Murray of the Neverlow Glass Gallery in Yuma said that just after the store opened on January 3, three people who identified themselves as officials from the FDA came to the shop and confiscated CBD products from the store shelves. Murray said the FDA officials from “another enforcement unit” came with the FDA officials, although he could not remember which agency they were from.
“They came in this morning and they took eight chocolate bars, 14 packs of gummies, and 23 K-cups,” said Murray.
The business owner said that the officials flashed badges and identification cards but did not show a warrant and did not leave a receipt for the items that they had taken.
“It wasn’t much,” Murray said. “They said they were going to send me paperwork within seven to 10 business days or I was going to get my product back.”
He also said that the FDA officials told him that CBD products were required to be labeled “as a pet product,” he said, along with the words, “if consumed by a human, there’s no concern.”
The officials also told him that the FDA was “making their own regulations for [hemp].”
Murray said that four days earlier, FDA officials had come to the shop asking which products were edible and intended for human consumption. Murray then showed them the coffee, gummies, and chocolate. The officials left and Murray did not know that they had planned to return.
Similar Activity at Different Arizona Store
Chris Martin operates Hempful Farms, the manufacturer of the coffee and chocolate confiscated at the Neverglow Glass Gallery. Although he hadn’t heard of any other products being seized, he said that his store in Phoenix was visited by three “jarhead-looking guys, straight outta military,” also on Thursday. The men refused to identify themselves and asked strange questions while they were at the shop.
“You take this and put this in your mouth?” Martin remembers one of them asking.
“Patients don’t do that. People who are just looking for help don’t do that stuff,” he said.
Murray said that he does not know what he is going to do next. He is waiting for the paperwork from the FDA or the return of his merchandise. In the meantime, he still has CBD products to sell if he so chooses. Only the CBD edibles on store shelves were taken, even though Murray had additional product in the store’s inventory.
“I have more chocolate bars, I have more K-cups, I have more gummies,” Murray said. “But they only took what was on my shelf. That’s what confuses me about this whole thing …They should’ve taken everything.”
In a statement issued to the Phoenix News Times, the FDA declined to comment on the matter.
“The FDA, by policy, does not discuss possible or ongoing investigations; however, if an investigation were performed and the case is deemed closed, the information will be releasable via a written Freedom of Information Act request for records,” the statement read.
