Several businesses, including one in Hampton Roads, were hit with fines after a new state law tightening regulations on the hemp industry took effect this summer.

“Shop owners need to do their due diligence,” said Jason Blanchette, president of the Virginia Cannabis Association.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is tasked with enforcing the new rules. Spokesperson Michael Wallace said the agency started conducting food safety inspections last month.

Chesapeake Tobacco & Vape offered five edible hemp products that were not in compliance, according to a copy of a letter the department sent to the shop on July 31. The letter states the business further failed to submit a mandatory edible hemp products disclosure form and did not have a food establishment permit.

The owner, Assim Mirgan, declined to comment.

The store was fined $13,000, but the department offered an opportunity to pay a reduced penalty of $6,500 if the payment is made within 30 days.

As of Aug. 4, other businesses that received noncompliance letters include Paradise Vapes in Christiansburg, Discount Tobacco in Gate City, N2U and Cherry Hill Tobacco & Vape, both in Galax, and Tobacco World and Skyline Cigars & Vapes, both in Warrenton. The total amount in fines sought for these stores is $208,500, but could be less if they pay within 30 days.

Many have found it challenging to keep up with Virginia’s ever changing landscape of hemp and marijuana laws. Hemp and marijuana both come from the cannabis plant, but hemp only contains 0.3% or less THC, which is the component in cannabis that can produce an intoxicating effect.

The state decriminalized some marijuana possession in 2020. A year later, it became legal for individuals to grow or possess small amounts of marijuana. But the General Assembly has since been unable to pass legislation that creates a legal retail market for selling it, creating a murky grey area.

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Meanwhile, the legislature in 2022 passed legislation prohibiting the sale of THC products that were in fun shapes likely to appeal to children or in packaging that mimics trademarked brands. Legislators continued the crackdown this year, further tightening the rules for labels and packaging and requiring cannabis products to contain at least a 25-to-1 ratio of CBD, or cannabidiol, to THC. It also established civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each day a violation occurs.

Wallace said the noncompliance letters issued this summer were due to violations related to the new laws from 2022 and ’23.

Blanchette said the association didn’t fully support the new laws, some of which he believes “handcuff” local business owners. But he said stores should have at least adjusted by now to the rules surrounding shapes and trademarked brands.

“Honestly, I don’t have any sympathy for that,” he said. “That was legislation from July 1 of 2022.”

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Savana Griffith, owner of The Hemp Spectrum in Virginia Beach, said her business hasn’t received any inspections or noncompliance letters.

“Thankfully, there is no news here,” she said.

Although Griffith strongly disagreed with the new laws, she emptied out her shelves earlier this summer and started searching for new compliant products. She also opened a distribution center over state lines in North Carolina.

“Luckily with that (new center), and with bringing in some compliant edibles, we have been OK,” she said.

Griffith, however, said the shop does receive daily calls from residents who used to rely on the products that are now banned.

The new legislation this year was not without controversy. Some legislators cautioned the bill needed more work.

On the Senate floor in April, Virginia Beach Democrat Aaron Rouse said he believed legislators did not have a strong enough understanding of the hemp industry to be passing new policies.

“We are going to have to come back and fix this at a later point,” said Rouse. “… The market is already up and running and now we are talking about tying the arms of small businesses behind their backs.”

Others don’t think the new law needs any tweaking.

In a statement, Gov. Glenn Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said the new rules were working as intended.

“The new hemp law takes critical steps to strengthen consumer safety and regulations around edible and inhaled hemp-derived products as well as delta-8 THC products,” she wrote. “… The legislation is effectively ensuring Virginians’ safety.”

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com