15 tons of illegal products seized in ‘Ganjapreneur’ investigation, authorities announce

COLUMBIA — Authorities seized more than 30,000 pounds of marijuana joints, edibles and various other THC products sold illegally in South Carolina stores as part of a drug trafficking investigation resulting in 12 arrests, law enforcement officials announced Friday.

The 15 tons of products seized in the investigation, nicknamed “Ganjapreneur,” involved the search of six warehouses, six homes, one business and two storage units.

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In all, it was about “eight U-Hauls worth” of products, Attorney General Alan Wilson told reporters.

The announcement comes as the legality of products containing delta-9 THC is debated nationwide.

In South Carolina, marijuana remains illegal.

But hemp products infused with THC — the compound in cannabis that gets people high — have proliferated in vape shops and gas stations across the state in a legal gray area. The products, which include drinks and gummies, can be legal if the THC concentration is low enough. Proving they’re illegal requires testing the products.

The investigation focused on distributors and wholesalers of products sold openly in stores. Testing showed they contained illegal levels of THC regardless of what their packaging claimed, Wilson said.

“These people were knowingly selling something that they knew was illegal here in South Carolina with the intent of profiting from it, and they were targeting minor children,” said the Republican attorney general, who is also running for governor.

The 12 people indicted by the State Grand Jury are accused of being wholesale distributors of the illegal products. They’re collectively indicted on 40 narcotics charges, which include trafficking between 10 and 100 pounds of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, according to the indictments unsealed Thursday.

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In hearings Thursday at the Richland County Courthouse, their bonds were set between $50,000 and $120,000.

Hemp is often used to make rope or clothing and naturally contains very low concentrations of THC. The 2018 federal farm bill legalized hemp containing less than 0.3% of THC. People soon took advantage of that law to sell hemp products infused with enough THC to intoxicate users.

A last-minute addition to the stopgap spending law that ended the federal government shutdown in November may close that loophole late next year.

On Friday, Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington, said legislators need to act before then to curb the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived THC products in South Carolina.

He sponsored a bill in February that sought to ban anyone under 21 from buying a “consumable hemp product.” That legislation received near-unanimous House support in April but has yet to get a hearing in the Senate. Senators could take it up when the legislative session resumes in January.

Wilson and other law enforcement officials at the conference said they wanted to warn parents about the sale of dangerously potent THC products being marketed to children.

“Just because you have something in a fluorescent rainbow packaging with a cartoon character on it, and it looks and sounds like it’s a child edible or a child beverage, does not mean that it is,” Wilson said. 
“These things can be deadly.”

During the news conference, the South Carolina Healthy Alternatives Association released an unsigned statement criticizing the investigation and calling for regulation of hemp-derived products.

Wilson dismissed the group’s concerns, saying it’s not familiar with the government’s evidence.

Various law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation included the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the FBI, the sheriff’s departments in Richland and Lexington counties, and the University of South Carolina police.