The federal Justice Department on Thursday unveiled charges against seven people connected to a Virginia hemp THC operation, including a prominent state lawmaker and critic of President Donald Trump who boasted online of owning a “cannibis (sic) store.”
Democratic state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, 82, a co-owner of The Cannabis Outlet, a hemp store in Portsmouth, Virginia, “allegedly abused her position of public trust… to protect (a) criminal marijuana enterprise” worth $4.5 million, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
Lucas began working on a hemp enterprise to “get generational wealth” with a business partner as early as 2019, according to an Oct. 14 indictment unsealed on Thursday. That’s several months after Trump signed into law the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp nationwide and led to a proliferation of intoxicating THC products that claimed Farm Bil protections.
In a post on X on Thursday, Lucas, an outspoken Trump critic who is Black, did not address the hemp THC question.
Instead, she invoked Jim Crow and vowed not to be “intimidated” or “bullied.”
Is the Trump Justice Department cracking down on hemp THC?
In addition to Lucas, a federal grand jury has indicted:
- Lisa Lucas Burke, Lucas’ daughter
- Prince Albert William Hudson, III
- Ryan Eichelberger
- Theresa Lucas-Lamb
- Carlton Upton, Jr.
- Tameka Johnson
All were charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute “100 kilograms or more” of marijuana. Lucas was also charged with honest services fraud, alleging she used her position as an elected official to work to obtain state cannabis permits in exchange for cash.
The indictment lays out a lengthy running operation that Lucas operated despite knowing it was illegal – and despite warnings from state authorities, who allegedly informed her she was selling intoxicating THC products.
Authorities allege that Lucas and her daughter opened The Cannabis Outlet in 2021. According to the indictment, the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in January 2023 and again in July 2024 issued Lucas’ business notices of violation for “offering non-compliant cannabis products for sale” with “THC levels above .3%.”
According to the indictment, throughout 2022, Lucas purchased “multi-pound quantities of marijuana” with business checks. Beginning in 2024, law enforcement made “controlled purchase(s)” of marijuana from The Cannabis Outlet.
Federal authorities raided the store on May 6 and “recovered marijuana and firearms,” according to the indictment.
Did a Virginia state lawmaker run an illegal cannabis store?
According to the Virginia Mercury, the store sold products with “unreliable THC labels” as early as 2022.
Adult-use cannabis possession was legal in Virginia at that time. However, there are still no legal cannabis sales in the state outside of medical cannabis dispensaries. All MMJ permits in the state were obtained by major marijuana multistate operators.
That didn’t stop Lucas from posting on social media in January 2022 that she “has her own cannibis (sic) store,” the indictment alleged.
And according to the indictment, The Cannabis Outlet continued to sell marijuana in July 2026, after the raid.
Did a Virginia state lawmaker work to secure state cannabis permits?
Lucas also allegedly used her position as state Senate president pro tempore to secure a recreational marijuana license for Carlton Upton Jr., a co-defendant charged with six counts, according to the indictment.
In early 2026, Lucas allegedly telephoned another Virginia state lawmaker, whom she told she “needed to get” a Virginia cannabis permit.
In a later conversation, she acknowledged that “when I did it, it was obviously illegal,” the indictment alleges.
She also in 2022 “allegedly paid $750,000 for a 100% stake” in a shell company that “expected” to obtain an adult-use permit, the indictment added.
Recreational permits are not yet available in Virginia, but applications could be accepted early next year, state authorities have said.
How will federal authorities enforce the hemp THC ban?
The federal charges against Lucas and her business partners come as a Dec. 11 effective date for a sweeping redefinition of hemp under federal law approaches.
President Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law that led to a nationwide hemp cannabinoid industry, estimated to record as much as $38 billion in annual sales this year, that advocates say is facing extinction under the new rules.
Since last year, hemp operators have been watching and waiting to see who will enforce the new rules and how. Both the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration “may lack the resources to broadly enforce the laws,” the Congressional Research Service said in a memo last year.
Meanwhile, states including Virginia are reassessing their own hemp laws – and what THC products can and can’t be legally passed off as hemp.
And in Virginia, lawmakers and the medical cannabis industry alike are preparing for the launch of adult-use cannabis sales next July.
At the time of the May raid – which came in the middle of a spat between Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and state lawmakers over the launch of adult-use sales in the state – Lucas and other state Democrats said the federal attention was a response to Lucas’ opposition to a redistricting scheme.
States across the country have redrawn Congressional districts with an eye towards the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Trump’s approval rating is at an historic low of 31%, according to recent polling.
Major national cannabis operators have poured millions into Trump-affiliated political action committees in hopes that full marijuana rescheduling will boost their businesses. However, at least some of that money has been steered towards Republican candidates with strong records opposing cannabis reform, including Texas U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.
