Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced charges Wednesday, September 30, 2026, against 46 businesses — including smoke shops, convenience stores, and gas stations — accused of selling illegal THC products, some of which packed more than 1,000 milligrams of THC into a single gummy. Detectives who purchased items directly from the stores found gummies, beverages, vape cartridges, and other consumables labeled as containing THC, according to officials.
The charges, reported by NBC10 Philadelphia, cap an investigation that county officials say uncovered a wave of unregulated and unsafe THC products flooding neighborhood retail shelves. Each of the 46 businesses is now charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, Steele said. The Montgomery County Detective Bureau's undercover buys reached across 26 distinct townships countywide, according to Glenside Local, underscoring just how widespread the alleged sales were.
Steele did not mince words about the businesses' conduct. Businesses do not get to ignore the laws of this commonwealth merely because there is profit to be made, too many smoke shops and gas stations have become distributors of wholly unregulated, dangerous, and, in this case, illegal products, he said.
A Warning Ignored, Prosecutors Say
This was not the county's first attempt to stop the sales. The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office had previously issued notices directing several businesses to remove unlawful THC products and warned that continued sales could result in criminal prosecution. Prosecutors said several businesses kept selling THC products despite receiving those notices.
Grand jury testimony reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer adds detail to that pattern: several store owners admitted they temporarily pulled illegal THC items after a July 2025 Inquirer report exposed local retail sales, but subsequent undercover buys confirmed many resumed selling them anyway.
Lab Results Showed Full-Potency Marijuana, Not Hemp
The current charges trace back to an investigating grand jury report titled Unregulated, Unsafe, and Illegal — The Reality of Smoke Shops in Pennsylvania, which the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office released in October 2025. That report found smoke shops throughout the county were selling illegal THC products, and laboratory testing tied to the probe told an even starker story: of 144 undercover purchases tested, 93.75 percent — 135 items — turned out to be full-potency marijuana, with Delta-9 THC levels of 5.0 percent or higher, far above the 0.3 percent limit that defines legal industrial hemp, according to a Chester County government release.
The same grand jury probe found that smoke shops now outnumber schools across Montgomery County by a 1.3-to-1 ratio, with roughly 240 stores operating countywide — about one for every two square miles, per LevittownNow.com. Prosecutors pointed to that density as evidence of how easily neighborhood kids can stumble into unregulated THC products.
Pediatric Emergencies Drove the Investigation
The Montgomery County grand jury report described severe medical emergencies tied to unregulated smoke shop products, including an 18-month-old Norristown toddler hospitalized after ingesting a marijuana vape pen, a 9-year-old in Havertown who ate THC-infused chocolate, and a 16-year-old student who suffered cardiac distress after consuming a THC gummy. The grand jury report also called for regulatory reform.
The investigation itself was a joint effort. The 10-month grand jury probe that preceded the criminal charges was run as a coalition between Steele, Bucks County DA Jennifer Schorn, Chester County DA Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe, and the Pennsylvania State Police, per the Chester County release.
State Charges Target the Supply Chain
The retail-level charges in Montgomery County are only part of the picture. On September 14, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday charged 12 individuals in connection with an $18.7 million drug trafficking ring accused of distributing high-potency THC edibles and pre-rolls to retail smoke shops and convenience stores from warehouses in Bucks, Luzerne, and Allegheny counties, according to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. State agents in that case seized 150,000 illicit items, according to the same release.
Hoodline has covered similar cases elsewhere in the state, including a Pittsburgh vape shop marijuana scheme and a Saxonburg case involving a 100mg THC seltzer given to a child, both illustrating how high-potency hemp-derived products have spread through loopholes in federal law.
Charges Over Alleged Illegal THC Sales
The prosecutions hinge on a conflict between federal and state law. Under Pennsylvania's Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, tetrahydrocannabinols remain classified as Schedule I controlled substances, even though the federal 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp containing no more than 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis, according to Trapothecary. Retailers have claimed compliance, while state prosecutors have brought charges under state drug law.
Prosecutors have charged specific smoke shops and gas stations over alleged sales of illegal THC products.
What Happens Next
As part of the case, Pennsylvania will seek legal conditions requiring every charged business to remove illegal items from its shelves and adopt better practices, including keeping intoxicating products out of reach of minors, according to officials. Preliminary hearings for the 46 businesses are scheduled for November 9.
The October 2025 grand jury report also issued seven legislative recommendations for state lawmakers, including mandatory ID-scanning systems at smoke shops, strict 21-and-over age limits, and mandatory batch testing, per LevittownNow.com. Prosecutors have said criminal busts alone will not fix the problem without statewide legislation to close the regulatory gap that has let these products proliferate since the 2018 Farm Bill.
