A hemp business owner seeking to become governor said that Gov. Kay Ivey should feel “ashamed” as raids on hemp shops are affecting businesses.
Chad ‘Chig’ Martin is the owner of Honeysuckle Hemp Company based in Dothan and opened his store in 2018.
Martin, from Enterprise, is also running to become governor of Alabama as a Democratic candidate.
On Wednesday, he made several Facebook posts criticizing recent raids on hemp stores and their impact on businesses.
Martin added a picture stating that he had to close his store early Wednesday because “stores around us are being raided and their cash is being seized.”
“Governor Ivey, you should be ashamed of yourself. Pathetic leadership. With a few days left to even sell the product. They are crushing hard-working, family run businesses. Get me elected if you want to stop this crap. I promise you, I will not stand for it.”
On Monday, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency stated that hemp stores in four different cities were raided.
The agency alleged that businesses were raided due to complaints they were violating long held marijuana laws.
But Martin told AL.com the operations are a pointless, “intimidation” tactic by law enforcement ahead of new hemp regulations set to go into effect on July 1.
“The real problem that I have with it personally is the hemp stores now only have a matter of a few days left to even sell these products before they have to be taken off the shelf,” Martin said.
“And I just don’t see what is accomplished, with just a few days left, conducting these raids. And even harming these small, family run businesses that are run with two and three and four people.”
The regulations, which stem from the signing of HB445 by Ivey, will tax, regulate and restrict consumable products that contain THC.
Martin warned that these regulations could be the “death knell” for his business and other stores that sell hemp derived products.
Martin called out Ivey for what he called “pathetic leadership“ and not being aware of how harmful HB445 can be to business owners in the state.
“I don’t even think Governor Ivey realized that she was potentially putting an entire industry out of business with what she was doing when she signed that bill,” Martin said. “I don’t think, she understood the consequences of that bill.”
Yet, since the bill has been signed many business owners and opponents of the bill have complained publicly about how costly the bill’s impact may be.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called on Ivey to order a special legislative session to fix HB445 saying it would have adverse effects on public safety and business owners.
But Ivey’s office told AL.com that the governor has no intentions of ordering a special legislative session.
Martin said he’d work to fix the potential harm to the hemp industry if he was governor.
“Day one, if I was elected,” Martin said, “we’re going to have policy in place on day one to get back out in front of the legislators to get this reversed.”
Chad ‘Chig’ Martin said he had to close his store early because “stores around us are being raided and their cash is being seized.” Read More
