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Business owner, Idaho town clash over pot extract

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI, Associated Press
Published: December 17, 2017, 10:33pm

BOISE, Idaho — A small-business owner with high hopes of selling oil extracted from cannabis plants in staunchly anti-marijuana Idaho has found himself lost in the weeds with local officials who say such products might be illegal in the state.

Michael Larsen applied for a building permit in February with the goal of transforming a commercial space in the tiny community of Garden City — a municipality surrounded by Boise, Idaho’s largest city — into a retail store called Welcomed Science that would sell dietary supplements.

Those plans came to a halt, however, when city attorney Charles Wadams denied the application in May on the basis that cannabidiol, otherwise known as CBD oil, is illegal in Idaho.

That’s because a 2015 state attorney general’s opinion stated that oils extracted from cannabis plants are a controlled substance. However, the opinion included a key exemption: Such products can be considered legal in Idaho — as long as they contain no THC, the intoxicating component in marijuana.

CBDs come from cannabis but contain little or no THC. Supporters tout CBDs as a supplement that can alleviate pain, reduce stress and improve skin health, although there’s little data on whether they work or what kind of side effects they might have.

Currently, 18 states allow use of “low THC, high cannabidiol (CBD)” products for medical reasons in limited situations or as a legal defense, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nearly 30 states allow for medical use of marijuana.

Idaho lawmakers, meanwhile, passed a resolution in 2013 vowing the Statehouse would never legalize marijuana for any purpose.

According to public records obtained by The Associated Press, Garden City’s decision to deny Larsen’s permit has resulted in a monthslong back-and-forth on whether his products contain THC.

Larsen maintains they do not.

Wadams says the city is waiting on Larsen’s vendor to provide an independent sample to Garden City police for testing. The city also wants Larsen to present an affidavit from an expert promising Larsen’s products are legal in Idaho.

Larsen’s lawyer notes similar products containing CBD oil are being sold in the state, and says the requests being made of his client are unwarranted.

In a phone interview Thursday, Boise-based attorney Joe Filicetti pointed to a CBD oil store that opened in Sandpoint, about eight hours north of Garden City, in 2016. He said Sandpoint officials have welcomed the business, which sells CBD vapor and tinctures.

In a June email obtained in the AP’s records request, Filicetti told Larsen’s vendor that local authorities were “absolutely ridiculous” in their understanding of CBD, and said Wadams was getting advice from “every law enforcement entity in the state” on how to block Larsen’s business.

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