WICHITA, Kansas. – A business that marketed itself as “Wichita’s 1st Dispensary” was the center of a massive law enforcement operation, with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and the federal ATF conducting “coordinated searches” at eight locations. Authorities raided six High Hopes ICT storefronts and two private residences as part of what they described as a year-long “narcotics and weapons investigation”.
The High Hopes investigation is uniquely severe, with law enforcement sources alleging it “addresses a transnational drug cartel involved in the manufacture of illegal narcotics”.
This local criminal probe converged with a separate, high-profile statewide crackdown. In recent weeks, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Director Tony Mattivi announced “a period of lax enforcement is ending”. The KBI has since raided over 18 CBD and vape shops across 11 cities , targeting what Mattivi called “weed dealers in strip malls”.
The raids have brought a simmering legal conflict over hemp-derived products to a boil, centering on a statutory “loophole” that, according to Kansas law, may not exist at all.
The “Loophole” vs. Kansas Law
The entire “legal” THC industry is built on the 2018 Federal Farm Bill, which legalized hemp products containing less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC—the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana.
Businesses have used this to sell two main products:
- Delta-8 THC: An intoxicating cannabinoid chemically derived from legal CBD.
- THCa Flower: This is the non-psychoactive “acid” precursor found in the cannabis plant. It does not become intoxicating Delta-9 THC until it is heated.
The industry argument is that since THCa is not Delta-9 THC, it is legal “hemp”. However, Kansas state law is far stricter and appears to render this argument void.
Kansas statute (K.S.A. 2-3901) defines the legal 0.3% THC limit by measuring “the combined total percentage of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol and its optical isomers, their salts and acids…”.
State officials have confirmed that the word “acids” is the statutory term for THCa. This means that unlike the federal bill, Kansas law requires “total THC” (Delta-9 + THCa) to be under 0.3%, making the high-THCa flower sold in “dispensaries” illegal “marijuana.”
Furthermore, a 2021 Kansas Attorney General’s opinion already classified Delta-8 THC as a Schedule I controlled substance, just like marijuana.
Local Enforcement Promised
The statewide crackdown was contingent on local prosecutorial support. KBI Director Mattivi confirmed raids were only planned “in locations where local prosecutors had agreed to bring charges”.
In Sedgwick County, District Attorney Marc Bennett had issued a clear public warning in February 2023. He affirmed the 2021 AG opinion on Delta-8 and warned businesses to “stop and conform to the laws of our state”. Bennett stated that once local law enforcement presented cases, his office would “file charges when appropriate”.
While the state’s official narrative for the KBI raids focused on protecting children , a concern echoed for years by local school districts battling a youth vaping epidemic , public reaction has been mixed. Many residents decried the raids as a “waste of time and taxpayer money” that ignored more pressing issues like fentanyl and meth.
The KBI’s statewide operation (distinct from the High Hopes cartel probe) has already seized hundreds of pounds of marijuana, tens of thousands of pre-rolled joints, and over 84,000 edibles. In response, some targeted shop owners are planning a class-action lawsuit , setting up a legal showdown that will force Kansas courts to finally rule on the “Total THC” law.
