“Operation 420” Targets Hemp Businesses in North Georgia

Last week, law enforcement reportedly raided businesses in the Towns County and Hiawassee area as part of “Operation 420,” targeting businesses and individuals suspected of selling marijuana and illegal THC as “hemp products.” The operation was a joint effort between the Towns County Sheriff’s Office, Hiawassee Police, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

According to reports, officers seized products marketed as legal hemp that allegedly exceeded the legal limit for THC, making them controlled substances under state law. The products allegedly included THCA flower and noncompliant THC vape cartridges, gummies, and other edibles. Officers also seized “enhanced” kratom tablets.

These raids are the most recent in a wave of law enforcement operations, led by the GBI and GDA, that has been targeting hemp businesses accused of selling illegal drugs. These enforcement actions come roughly two years after the Georgia legislature tightened the regulatory framework for consumable hemp products and changed the testing standards differentiating legal hemp from illegal marijuana.

Georgia opened the door to legal forms of recreational cannabis products when the legislature passed the Georgia Hemp Farming Act in 2019. This landmark legislation legalized a broad variety of “hemp” and “hemp products,” including smokables, vapes, gummies, and other products containing CBD and THC, as long as they contain less than 0.3% Delta-9-THC. The legislature also amended the state’s criminal laws to exclude “hemp” and “hemp products” from the definitions of “marijuana” and “THC,” which remain illegal controlled substances.

Since then, however, smoke shops and other hemp businesses across Georgia have been targeted for law enforcement raids based on allegations that they were selling illegal marijuana or THC. In 2023, the Court of Appeals ruled against the police in Elements Distribution, LLC v. State, as argued by our firm, but the raids have continued since then. 

In 2024, the Georgia legislature enacted SB 494, changing the legal landscape for hemp again. As our firm has covered, the bill created several new regulations such as a ban on food products, loose flower, and closing the “THCA loophole” by changing the legal THC limit to account for both Delta-9-THC and THCA. 

Because of the significant and complex changes made by SB 494, most of the bill’s changes did not become effective until October 2024, and the Department of Agriculture itself published a notice advising businesses that it would prioritize education over enforcement until January 2025.  

More recently, the Department and other law enforcement agencies have been conducting increasingly aggressive enforcement actions, showing that ambiguities remain over which hemp products are compliant. While “Operation 420” appears to have involved retail hemp businesses, the Department of Justice and other agencies have conducted recent raids against wholesalers and large distributors.

Meanwhile, at the federal level, hemp law remains in flux. As previously reported, President Trump signed a bill last fall that would effectively criminalize most intoxicating hemp products beginning November 2026. Should that law take effect as written, it will directly contradict Georgia’s now-robust hemp regulatory framework, creating even more ambiguity for businesses and law enforcement.

If the businesses and individuals caught up in “Operation 420” are charged with felony drug offenses, the State will not only have to prove that the products were illegal marijuana or THC, but they will have to show how they were tested, that the testing was able to distinguish between legal and illegal cannabinoids, and that the testing was conducted reliably. For example, many field tests used by police are unreliable for distinguishing legal hemp from illegal marijuana or THC. 

Most importantly, however, the State will have to prove that the accused knew that they were dealing with illegal drugs rather than hemp. In most cases, businesses rely on vendor representations identifying their products as lawful hemp and providing third-party lab results showing compliance with the legal THC limit. 

Employees swept up in raids like Operation 420 may have an even stronger defense here if they had no role in sourcing, compliance, or product testing and were only acting based on what owners, managers, or suppliers told them about the products on the shelf.

Intent in such cases is especially vulnerable where compliant and noncompliant products may look and smell identical, as hemp and marijuana products often do, and where the line splits on the concentrations of chemical compounds. The difference between a civil infraction and felony drug charge can come down to a supplier who tested a non-representative sample, a lab that took shortcuts during testing, or a small-business owner’s misunderstanding of a test result.

Any criminal charges based on kratom would face similar obstacles. Kratom is not categorically illegal in Georgia, but it may not exceed statutory limits for mitragynine or 7-hydroxymitragynine, may not contain synthetic kratom alkaloids or metabolites, and must comply with labeling and age restrictions. The State will need reliable testing and strong evidence to sustain these charges.

The Church Law Firm represents wholesalers, retailers, and individuals charged with felony marijuana offenses relating to their hemp businesses. These cases require immediate work on the front end to preserve records, lock down supplier and testing documents, challenge search and seizure issues, and force the state to prove its lab work and its intent evidence.

If you or your business has been targeted by law enforcement, contact us. We will fight for you.