Lexington police searched five local vape and hemp shops on Thursday, November 5, accusing the businesses of selling scheduled narcotics and drug paraphernalia. Officers seized inventory, electronics and cash from at least one store, and the owners say they followed the law and were blindsided by the raids.
According to wistv.com, the Lexington Police Department said it believes five businesses have offered scheduled narcotics and drug paraphernalia. Search warrants were carried out at Essential Vapors at 205 Columbia Ave., Kratopia at 5140 Sunset Blvd., Planet Vapor at 912 South Lake Dr., The CBD Store at 5225 Sunset Blvd. and Energy Express Exxon at 1104 North Lake Dr. The station reported that the investigation is ongoing, with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the DEA and Homeland Security Investigations all assisting.
The Post and Courier reports the investigation began in October 2026, when Lexington police officers made undercover purchases from the businesses, according to the search warrant. SLED testing found that the purchased products contained delta-8, which South Carolina law enforcement agencies maintain is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance in the state. The newspaper reported that search warrants also sought customer and supplier names and phone numbers stored on electronic devices at the shops.
Owners Describe Hours-Long Searches and Heavy Losses
Virginia Gauthier, who has managed Kratopia since 2019 and co-owns it with her husband Robert since 2022, told the Post and Courier that officers kept her seated in a corner for five hours while agents emptied the store's inventory. She said law enforcement seized the shop's inventory, a computer, her personal cell phone, security-camera footage and more than $3,300 in cash, and that Kratopia lost about half of its displayed product to confiscation.
“It really just feels like a violation, just like they spit in my face,” Gauthier said, per the same account. She and Robert have retained Columbia attorney Seth Rose and said they plan to sue the agencies involved, alleging they follow the law and have tried to ensure their products are safe. The couple believe authorities incorrectly interpreted the law and said they received no advance warning of the raid.
Christina Hunter, who manages The CBD Store, told the paper her shop lost nearly a quarter of its inventory in the raid. The store sold THC drinks and shots, gummies, flower products and THC vapes, the report states. A customer identified as Karen said her family visited The CBD Store to show support after hearing about the raids, while a customer named Tim, who said he worked as an EMS paramedic for 34 years, said he uses THC products to manage back pain and PTSD.
A Murky Legal Line Between Hemp and Marijuana
South Carolina prohibits marijuana in all forms and classifies any cannabis plant exceeding 0.3 percent delta-9 THC by dry weight as marijuana, according to the Post and Courier's reporting. The federal Hemp Farming Act defines legal hemp as a cannabis derivative containing less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC by dry weight, but the South Carolina Attorney General's Office found in 2021 that the law does not legalize delta-8 or other THC forms. Delta-8 products are often made by converting CBD into THC synthetically and carry roughly half the potency of delta-9 THC, per the same reporting.
The legal landscape is also shifting at the federal level. Congress passed a 2025 spending package containing new hemp restrictions that take effect December 11, 2026, limiting total THC — including delta-8 — to 0.3 percent by dry weight for hemp classification and capping hemp-derived cannabinoid products at 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. By comparison, retail THC products typically contain 2.5 to more than 10 milligrams per serving, the Post and Courier reported.
Planet Vapor, one of the five businesses searched, has operated for 13 years and has grown to nine locations, according to the newspaper's reporting. That scale underscores how established some of the targeted businesses are in the local market, even as police allege they crossed a legal line.
Part of a Wider Regional Crackdown
The Lexington raids echo earlier friction between law enforcement and hemp retailers in the Midlands. In September 2023, Columbia police delivered 34 letters by mail or by hand warning vape shops they might be out of compliance with state law over hemp-derived THC products, according to The State. That same report noted a Lexington vape shop was shut down in 2021 for selling delta-8 products. Separately, Columbia police and SLED raided Crowntown Cannabis in a prior incident, confiscating material and arresting the store manager on a conspiracy-to-distribute-marijuana charge, The State reported.
The pattern isn't confined to South Carolina. A report published October 28, 2026, by MJBizDaily found that law enforcement officials across the country are raiding smoke shops and hemp operators ahead of the new federal ban on most hemp products, including 13 shops described as ostensibly legal hemp businesses raided by North Carolina county sheriff's deputies and local police on October 14. A similar sweep hit Transylvania County, North Carolina, that same night, where thirteen businesses selling hemp products were served search warrants and authorities seized tens of thousands of dollars in cash and many pounds of hemp flower, according to Blue Ridge Now.
For now, the outcome of the Lexington investigation remains unresolved. Police have described it as ongoing, and no further details on charges or findings have been released as the shop owners prepare their legal response.
