A recent state police raid on a Hollidaysburg shop that sold Delta 8 products containing THC derived from hemp has helped trigger consternation and uncertainty about the legality of those items.

It has also led at least one local distributor to withdraw Delta 8 products from its inventory and prompted a Tyrone company to move part of its operation to West Virginia. See story on Page A5.

“It’s very confusing,” said state Rep. Lou Schmitt, R-Altoona, an attorney. “I think you need to navigate a legal minefield if you sell Delta 8 in Pennsylvania.”

A “complex interplay” of federal and state laws tends to make it unclear whether Delta 8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products are legal, illegal or in “a gray area,” according to Schmitt.

Some county district attorneys have systematically moved against shops that sell products containing Delta 8 and similar potentially psychoactive substances.

Lancaster County sent a cease-and-desist memo a few months ago, after which detectives conducted raids and made product seizures, according to news sources in that area.

Lehigh County warned store owners and conducted consent searches that resulted in confiscation of products including vapes and edibles, according to a Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association warning about Delta 8 to parents on its website.

But there are contradictory elements in that DAs Association warning:

“Under Pennsylvania law, Delta 8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is explicitly illegal,” it states.

Nevertheless, there’s legal safe space: “State law requires that the concentration of THC be less than 0.3 percent in hemp.”

In Blair County, a Hollidaysburg store violated that safe space, according to Blair District Attorney Pete Weeks, who cautioned that he’s still researching Delta 8 and related issues.

State police obtained a search warrant for Our CBD Store and raided it, because customers had reported adverse events after using products from the shop, according to Weeks.

A state police lab found that at least some of those products not only exceeded the 0.3% legal threshold but reached the 0.6% threshold for state police action — a level set to provide a “margin-of-error” cushion, Weeks said.

“I’m still vetting the situation,” Weeks said, acknowledging that there’s “controversy.”

He still intends to continue to prosecute clear drug violations and adverse events caused by drugs, he added.

Our CBD Store owner Michael Deangelo is facing two felony charges of possession with intent to deliver and two misdemeanor charges of possession of a small amount of marijuana.

The charges and resultant publicity have destroyed his business and are sending him into bankruptcy, Deangelo said.

“We’re shut down. We had no choice,” he said. “They’re strong-arming people out of business.”

He wasn’t making a lot of money, but his products were helping people deal with addictions to hard drugs, according to Deangelo.

The raid is a component of “some type of movement (against) something that’s legal,” Deangelo said.

Maybe the state wants to eliminate competition for the medical marijuana dispensaries it regulates, he said.

Deangelo is pursuing lawsuits.

The raids may reflect “some type of political decision,” said local defense attorney Ted Krol, who intends to try to help Deangelo deal with his legal troubles.

It’s “absurd” that authorities are coming down on Delta 8 as a “controlled substance,” Krol said. “A bit mind-boggling,” he said.

He’d like to know under what theory the charges will be prosecuted, given that state Senate Bill 335 of 2019 makes industrial hemp products that don’t exceed 0.3% THC explicitly legal, Krol said.

Blair Candy, whose sister company is Nics Grab N’ Go, is withdrawing all its Delta 8 products, said Blair Candy Vice President Terry Dandrea.

He’s talked to other sellers, and “we’ve all decided to take it off the market,” Dandrea said — suggesting that there may be factors he’s not aware of that have influenced the recent law enforcement action.

His regional manufacturing supplier has advised all its local customers to do likewise and is moving its locally warehoused Delta 8 product to West Virginia, according to Dandrea.

That manufacturing supplier is doing it even though it has labs that conduct tests to ensure that THC levels don’t exceed 0.3%, Dandrea said.

“There’s a lot of unknowns, and we’re just being careful,” Dandrea said about his own company’s actions. “Us being law-abiding businesses, we don’t want to get raided over a misinterpretation and get labeled with selling a controlled substance.”

The state police may be using test strips that detect the presence of THC, but don’t give a reading on the concentration, and thus can’t distinguish between what’s legal and what’s not, according to the manufacturer supplier, Dandrea said.

Dandrea’s not personally “a proponent of this (Delta 8) stuff” — nor of legalized marijuana.

Nevertheless, customers say the Delta 8 helps them sleep or it relieves their pain, although some people use it to get high, he said. The crackdown will only drive the trade onto “the street” — including some inventory currently held by legitimate businesses.

The proliferation of Delta 8 products followed the passage of the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which legalized hemp production, leading some manufacturers to believe that made Delta 8 legal in Pennsylvania, according to the DAs Association statement.

Delta 8 products are unregulated and can be hazardous, according to the Association, citing the Food and Drug Administration.

Those products aren’t evaluated or approved by the FDA, and along with their “psychoactive and intoxicating effects,” they can cause hallucinations, vomiting, tremor, anxiety, dizziness, confusion and loss of consciousness, according to an FDA web page.

The state police declined to comment on the Deangelo investigation, because it’s active, according to an email from Troop G community services officer Christopher Fox, who nevertheless cited the DAs Association’s assertion that Delta 8 is “explicitly illegal.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.