An Oregon hemp producer seeking $2.5 million in damages after its warehouse was raided by authorities looking for illegal marijuana suffered a big setback in federal court.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke ruled that the search warrant used when authorities raided Oregonized Hemp Co., a farm and farm service contracting business, was valid.
The Grants Pass-based hemp company had argued that authorities from Josephine and Jackson counties was carried out improperly.
According to the (Medford, Oregon) Mail Tribune, the judge conceded that the company and its owner are “understandably frustrated with the actions of law enforcement in this case,” but he said the search was constitutional.
Clarke did note that Oregonized “suffered a large economic loss due to the destruction of their industrial hemp, which law enforcement misidentified as marijuana.”
The judge gave Oregonized time to file an amended complaint based on his ruling about the search warrant.