BELLBROOK — Hundreds of illegal products were seized after a raid at a Bellbrook smoke shop.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:30, officers raided VIP Smoke Shop for hours in connection to an investigation that started in 2023.
Investigators said it was launched because of complaints that minors were coming to the store and allowed to buy unregulated, illegal products.
“It’s become a big problem for minors and juveniles buying these products and then getting addicted to these products,” Dennis Eng, director of the ACE Task Force, said.
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Officers seized hundreds of products.
“It involved vape cartridges and all the way up to raw products itself of marijuana,” Eng said.
Eng said every product that was seized was over the legal limit for an unlicensed dispensary.
The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed, but it shows a glimpse of what could be a much bigger issue — the danger of unregulated products.
“People are buying items that they don’t know what they’re buying that could harm them,” Eng said.
Testimonials from two doctors at Dayton Children’s Hospital ask state senators to ban these products.
They said over the last three years, there have been more than 250 reports of Delta 8 poisoning across the state.
Emergency room visits for kids exposed to these products went up more than 500 percent from 2019 to 2023.
“There are layers of consumer protection, health and safety regulations built into the legal program,” Pete Nischt said.
Nischt oversees product testing for K Lutch Cannabis, a legal marijuana dispensary in Ohio.
He said you won’t believe what can make it into unlisted products.
“You would find pesticides that were not allowed to use that are poisonous. You find heavy metal contamination, you find mold and bacteria contamination,” he said.
Eng suggested anyone who thinks this may be happening at a local shop to report them to authorities.
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