SARASOTA — A noneuphoric cousin of cannabis could be pulled from store shelves after Sarasota police begin a planned crackdown on the products.

The Sarasota Police Department claims cannabidiol — known more popularly as CBD — is illegal, and officers will begin enforcement efforts once Police Chief Bernadette DiPino signs off on a letter demanding stores stop selling CBD, which comes in various forms, including oils and topical creams. Officers sometime this week will deliver the cease and desist notice to stores, including gas stations, grocers and standalone shops that sell the product, which is derived from hemp plants that contain minuscule levels of THC, the main intoxicating ingredient in marijuana. The crackdown comes after roughly seven complaints of citizens recently falling ill after using the products, police said.

“We don’t want somebody to have a bad medical reaction to some oil they bought at a gas station on their way out the door and turns out there was some sort of toxin in it and we allowed this to happen when we could have done something about it,” said Mike Harrell, a retired Tampa Police detective who now serves as a civilian investigator in the narcotics unit for Sarasota Police.

If shops don’t voluntarily yank the products from their shelves after a second warning, the police might do it for them, Harrell said.

“It’s not that we’re trying to halt commerce,” Harrell said. “Our goal is to protect life and property.”

Police are aware of at least two dozen stores in the city that sell the product, including a few shops that exclusively sell CBD oil and topical cream. At least two shops claimed to undercover officers that their oils had no THC in them, but upon testing by police, THC was found to be present in the product. Using the product, even with trace amounts of THC, could result in a failed drug test, Harrell said.

The shops have been able to fly under the radar for so long because most added the products after opening, Harrell said.

“These people are already set up in business, so nobody’s going to come in and inspect them for that product,” Harrell said. “And they have a distributor that comes along and says, ‘Hey, how about this? It’s great. It’s legal now. Why don’t you try it? It’s a good cash flow.’”

“And they do it,” Harrell added. “And they’re under no obligation, they feel, to call somebody and say, 'Hey, I just added a product to my business.'”

There’s much debate about whether CBD derived from hemp plants is legal. And the answer depends on whom you ask. Sarasota Police and newly elected Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried say the substance is unlawful.

"It’s not legal here right now. And that's exactly what I’m hoping the legislation is going to allow,” Fried said of CBD at a press conference last week announcing a new state director of cannabis. "We’re working with some of the lawmakers so they can change the definition so that we can in fact do a CBD program here in our state to make it very clear. So that the consumers are not — you know a lot of that that’s on the marketplace is fraud.”

Current state law prohibits the sale of cannabis derivatives, with the exception of medical marijuana, Harrell said, adding there’s another state law on the books that allows a strict hemp pilot program.

Twelfth Circuit State Attorney Ed Brodsky agrees with police that the substance is illegal, Harrell said. Brodsky’s office did not return a call for comment.

Hemp proponents and CBD retailers argue they are in compliance with federal law. President Donald Trump in December signed Congress’ omnibus Farm Bill into law, legalizing hemp at the federal level. Hemp, which is related to marijuana but has no psychoactive effect, has been classified as a controlled substance under federal law for years. The Farm Bill removed the designation and classified hemp as an agricultural product, legally disassociating hemp from marijuana, which remains illegal to grow in most states. If grown as a crop, hemp plants must not have more than 0.3 percent THC, or it must be destroyed. The law also allows hemp to be transported across state lines, expanding options for sales.

Deborah Gestner, a part-time Saraosta resident and member of the board of directors of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, argues selling CBD oil in Florida is legal because it’s not a derivative of marijuana. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, established in 2017, is a coalition of more than a dozen hemp companies that advocated for the passage of bipartisan legislation in Congress that established hemp federally as an agricultural commodity, permanently removing it from regulation as a controlled substance.

“The federal law separated it because it’s not the same plant,” Gestner said of the difference between hemp and marijuana. “There’s cannabis sativa and cannabis indica. We’re a sativa plant and they’re an indica plant. They’re different species. They don’t even look the same.”

Shelby Isaacson, who co-owns Second and Seed, a shop in downtown Sarasota that sells hemp extract and CBD oil from hemp, agrees with Gestner’s interpretation of the law. Isaacson, who has been in business at her downtown location since September, said it’s business as usual despite the looming crackdown.

“It could negatively affect my business as well as the access for individuals, which is really frustrating,” Isaacson said. “So I think I’m going to keep my doors open as long as possible.”

CDB oil has been credited with relieving pain, anxiety, sleep issues and other health conditions. Isaacson’s shop sells both oil and topical creams ranging in price from $50 to nearly $400.

All of her products contain less than 0.3 percent of THC, which she says is required by the Farm Bill.

“Our products are specifically tested three different times to make sure we are in the statutes of the Farm Bill of 2014 and 2018,” Isaacson said. “We are very transparent on what we sell and how we sell what we sell. Our certificates from a third party’s lab are always here in the shop so you know what you’re taking. We are in full compliance with the federal government.”

Isaacson believes federal law trumps state laws on the issue, but Sarasota police beg to differ.

“Federal law does not pre-empt state law, and Florida currently has a hemp law,” police spokeswoman Genevieve Judge said in an email. “It requires participation in a pilot project under the supervision of the Florida Department of Agriculture.”

Harrell counters the 0.3 THC percent rule is only applied to hemp during the harvesting process, he said.

“The 0.3 percent really only comes into play when they’re monitoring the farming of the product, because when they're going through their crop and doing the random testing on the hemp crops, if any of those plants come in over 0.3, it has to be destroyed, because it no longer meets the definition of industrial hemp,” Harrell said.

City Attorney Robert Fournier said he understands the confusion over the product’s legality.

“I understand the basis for the argument that it is illegal and that’s based on the very broad definition of cannabis in the Florida statutes,” Fournier said.

The Florida Attorney General's office declined to comment on the legality of CBD.

"As you may know, section 16.01(3), Florida Statutes, does not authorize the Attorney General to render opinions or advice to private individuals," the office's press secretary Kylie Mason said in an email. "You may want to check with the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use."

The Florida Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment.

In the meantime, Harrell is urging consumers who want or need to purchase CBD oil to buy it from a medical marijuana dispensary — since selling any amount of THC is illegal in the state, he said.

“Our message from the beginning is if it works for you and you think it works for you and you want to try it or you need it, go to a physician, get one of the cards and buy from one of the licensed dispensaries, so you know for sure exactly what you’re getting,” he said.