Leader Of $13M Illegal Cannabis Operation Argues Federal Law Protects Him & More In Weed Chronicles

A 32-year-old woman who was traveling to Hong Kong from the U.S. was arrested with two bottles of CBD personal care products, 2.2 grams of ketamine and 10 syringes, reported Agence France Presse.
Hong Kong recently made CBD products illegal after finding that a third of them sold in the city contained traces of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, which is illegal in Hong Kong. Anyone found in possession of CBD could end up serving up to seven years in prison and paying fines of up to HJ$1 million ($127,000), while convictions of import, export, sales and production can render even harsher penalties.
The woman, whose nationality and name were not disclosed, was sentenced on Friday to two months imprisonment for two counts of drug possession and one count in connection to the syringes.
This is not the first CBD-related arrest since the ban went into effect. In February, Hong Kong authorities arrested a man for ordering CBD oils from Denmark.
The city’s customs agents said the jail term "reflects the seriousness of the offense and serves as a clear warning to the general public."

UK’s police seized up to £130 million ($167 million) worth of marijuana plants in what is considered the country’s biggest-ever crackdown on organized crime, reported BBC.
In “the most significant” operation of its kind, officers also arrested 1,000 people, seized 20 firearms, 20kg of cocaine and £636,000 in cash.
While in the UK, cannabis is considered a Class B drug and not Class A like heroin or cocaine, police confirm that illegal marijuana operations are often connected to more serious crimes involving organized criminal groups.
"We know that organized networks involved in cannabis production are also directly linked to an array of other serious criminality such as Class A drug importation, modern slavery, and wider violence and exploitation," said Steve Jupp, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for Serious and Organised Crime.

Minnesota Board of Pharmacy fined a St. Cloud-based business, Granite City Jobbing Company in June for allegedly selling illegal THC products, reported St. Paul TV station KSTP.
This is the fourth company to be sued by the board in six months for the same reason - selling products infused with more THC than allowed by the state law (the maximum allowed is 5 mg THC per serving or 50mg per package).
Granite City Jobbing Company was fined a hefty $50,000 and will have to file quarterly reports with the board for three years.

What sets Lucas Sirois apart from more than a dozen people and three businesses charged in connection with illegal cannabis activities, is his original defense attempt, writes the Bangor Daily News.
A Maine man, who has a license to grow medical marijuana, sold it illegally in the Pine Tree State argues that under federal law his $13 million operation is protected. How so?
In an attempt to dismiss the case, Sorois' attorney Timothy C. Parlatore argued that Congress “has taken steps to ensure that federal law enforcement does not interfere with the state’s decision to implement medical marijuana laws by prohibiting the Department of Justice from using any funds appropriated by Congress to prosecute medical marijuana businesses that are operating in accordance with state law.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Noah Falk and Andrew McCormack didn’t agree. “Sirois and his co-defendants cannot avail themselves of that safe harbor here. They cannot establish that they were in substantial compliance with Maine law, given the breadth and depth of the conduct.”
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