Los Angeles-based vaporizer cartridge company Stiiizy is battling fraud accusations in federal court that accuse its hemp-derived business of selling products with excessive THC.
The suit – filed in the Southern District Court of Illinois by two Midwest consumers in April – claims Stiiizy’s delta-8 THC products have more than the 0.3% THC allowed under federal law.
In response, Stiiizy contends in a June 6 court filing that the plaintiffs’ “far-flung theory” did not demonstrate any injury – and haven’t proved they actually tested the product in question.
Stiiizy is asking a judge to dismiss the case.
The plaintiffs, Taylor Byron of Illinois and Terry Berry of Missouri, claim in their lawsuit to each have purchased a Stiiizy-branded product.
Stiiizy’s filing contends the plaintiffs’ “inference” that the products have more than 0.3% THC is based off of a single lab test of a “different” Stiiizy-branded product.
Products such as Stiiizy’s hemp-based vaporizers are legal under the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, which allows “hemp,” or cannabis containing 0.3% THC or less, to be cultivated and sold nationwide.
Many states have since passed further restrictions in an effort to slow the proliferation of hemp-derived products containing intoxicating levels of THC.
In their suit against Stiiizy, the plaintiffs allege that lab tests showed the company’s products contained more than 0.3% THC.
But Stiiizy contends any lab tests are irrelevant because they would have had to be conducted on the final, “liquid content of the product, not on the plant itself pre-harvest as required by federal regulations.”
The Illinois case is only one legal headache for Stiiizy.
The company also faces a suit filed last month in its home state of California in which an anonymous teen alleges Stiiizy is “marketing dangerous, high potency marijuana vaporizers” to youth.
