Missouri AG accuses 13 KC hemp shops of selling unlicensed, intoxicating products
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- AG sent cease-and-desist to 33 hemp stores, 13 in KC area.
- Hanaway says lab tests found lead, arsenic, mercury, solvents, pesticides and mislabeling.
- Hemp industry and marijuana trade clash as enforcement, laws threaten stores.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway sent cease and desist letters to 33 hemp stores across the state, including 13 Kansas City businesses, her office announced on Wednesday.
The letter marks a shift in how law enforcement approaches the market of industrial hemp, which sidesteps Missouri’s regulated market with products that are intoxicating but outside of the federal government’s definition of marijuana.
For years, the industry has proliferated across the country after the 2018 Farm Bill legalized industrial hemp. But over the past year, law enforcement in both Missouri and Kansas has been more aggressive against unlicensed cannabis stores.
There are about 50 licensed dispensaries in the Kansas City metro, according to a registry on the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ website. The number of hemp stores is less clear, but could equal or exceed the number of licensed dispensaries.
The federal government defined industrial hemp as any cannabis plant that doesn’t contain more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC. Several companies market products that contain Delta-8 THC or THCa, which mimic the marijuana high.
Hanaway characterized the stores as deceptive drug peddlers.
“These unlicensed dispensaries are peddling dangerous, deceptive and intoxicating cannabis and marijuana products. A storefront and a sales counter do not magically convert an illegal drug operation into a legitimate business,” Hanaway said in a statement.
Her office said that lab testing confirmed some products contained lead, arsenic, mercury, ethanol, solvents, pesticides and other unknown products. Some products were marketed as marijuana, her office said, despite not following the state’s legal marijuana laws.
Emmit Monslow, who owns two Sacred Leaf cannabis stores in the Kansas City area, called the accusations of adulteration “a bunch of scary words” used by marijuana industry to deter people from hemp.
Sacred Leaf’s Independence location was one of the 13 Kansas City businesses targeted by Hanaway. He said ongoing efforts against the hemp industry seriously harmed his business, and he believes that the legal marijuana industry is trying to force hemp stores out of business.
“If you look at the money side, hemp doesn’t produce anywhere near marijuana,” Monslow said. “My business is almost dead now, because of all this weaponization of the system that has been deployed.”
The budding marijuana industry and hemp industry have butted heads, and the state’s largest trade organization representing licensed marijuana stores celebrated Hanaway’s efforts to crack down on hemp stores.
“Law enforcement, led by Attorney General Hanaway, are doing everything they can to protect the health and safety of Missourians by cracking down on these illegal, unregulated cannabis sales,” Andrew Mullins, executive director of MOCannTrade, said in a statement. “These products, often marketed to kids, and mostly grown outside Missouri, including China, simply are not safe for Missourians.”
Earlier this year, a coalition of marijuana companies filed a lawsuit against 40 stores in the St. Louis area and 17 stores in the Kansas City area.
The lawsuit alleges that THCa is functionally identical to marijuana, and that the stores have an unfair competitive advantage by operating outside of the state’s regulatory framework. At the federal level, a reconciliation budget bill could criminalize intoxicating industrial hemp in November.
“The hemp industry currently operates legally under federal law. The marijuana industry is still federally illegal, so states have to individually pass regulations to allow them to operate,” said Craig Katz, a lobbyist for a trade association for hemp stores.
Despite a looming prohibition, people in the hemp industry who spoke with The Star said they were optimistic that the Federal government would backtrack.
“There are multiple bills pending in both the House and the Senate that address that issue, and we’re certainly guardedly optimistic,” Katz said. “There are at least a couple (of) opportunities that are going to come up in the next few weeks for corrective language to be inserted.
At the state level, a bill was passed in the Missouri House that would mirror the federal prohibition. Katz said the language in the bill would wipe out 95% of the current hemp industry.
Mullins, with MOCannTrade, agreed that the combination of enhanced enforcement and legislative action could bring down Missouri’s hemp stores.
“While law enforcement act, lawmakers have made aligning Missouri law with the new federal definition of intoxicating hemp as (a) priority this legislative session. In combination, these efforts will go a long way to kicking bad actors that are preying on Missouri kids out of our state once and for all,” Mullins said.
Hanaway has been aggressive against the hemp industry. In November, she announced a statewide investigation and issued Civil Investigative Demands to five retail hemp shops in the state.
Across the border in Kansas, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation raided 18 hemp stores across the state in an effort to end lax enforcement of laws against marijuana and THC in Kansas.
Several stores sued the Kansas Attorney General and the KBI director earlier this month, alleging their products were unlawfully seized.
The Kansas City stores sent cease and desist letters include:
- Big Chiefs Kush Waldo in Kansas City
- Center Smoke Shop in Independence
- Dr. Smoke in Kansas City
- Gray Area Cannabis in Independence
- Herb Depot in Independence
- It’s a Dream in Kansas City
- KC Kush in Kansas City
- Main Smoke Shop KC in Kansas City
- Mr. Niceguy in Kansas City
- Prohibition Cannabis in Kansas City
- Sacred Leaf in Independence
- Super E Cig Smoke Shop in St. Joseph
- Vapor Maven in Cameron
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 1:52 PM.
