CRIME
Smoke shops raided across Morris County after law ends THC ‘loophole’
William WesthovenMorristown Daily Record
July 10, 2026, 6:31 p.m. ET
Smoke shops in four Morris County towns were raided and shut down this month by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office as part of a narcotics-related investigation targeting retailers selling illegal flavored vapes, intoxicating hemp products, and marijuana
Those unregulated products, appearing similar to those found at licensed cannabis dispensaries, are sometimes referred to as “marijuana lite” or “diet weed.”
The arrests in Boonton, Montville, Randolph and Roxbury, part of a New Jersey Attorney General’s initiative, were executed on July 1 by county and local law-enforcement agencies, including the Morris County Office of Emergency Management, Morris County Weights & Measures and theMorris County Division of Health
In a July 10 statement announcing the arrests, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll said the investigation was designed to “disrupt and dismantle the illegal sale of marijuana, intoxicating hemp, and illegal flavored vapes from these businesses operating in our communities.”
The investigation into “diet weed” sales in Morris County began in April, focused on four stores in Boonton, one in Montville, two in Randolph, and four in Roxbury Township
“This operation represents months of coordinated work between county and municipal law enforcement, health officials, and prosecutors to address a problem that has been hiding in plain sight in our neighborhoods,” Montville Police Chief Andrew Caggiano said
Eleven search warrants were simultaneously executed on July 1, resulting in the seizure of
- 17,323 tobacco-flavored vapes
- 56,699 units of THC Vapes (approximately 125.5 pounds)
- 328 pounds of gummies/edibles
- 16.5 pounds of marijuana
- Approximately 100 canisters of nitrous oxide
- $45,265.32 in currency
‘Farm Bill Loophole’
A provision in the Agriculture Act of 2018, designed to update essential federal food, agricultural, and conservation programs, inadvertently created a provision that allowed hemp-derived products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, to be sold without a license or regulation
THC is the substance primarily responsible for marijuana’s trademark psychological effects. Hemp is a plant related to marijuana that produces THC at a much lower level. Hemp and marijuana are from the same cannabis genus, but marijuana contains higher amounts of THC
There are a wide range of hemp products on the market that contain THC and cannabidiol (CBD), including tinctures and oil, pills and capsules, balms, edibles and beverages. The products are used for a variety of conditions, including anxiety, joint and muscle pain, headaches, insomnia and PTSD
But the 2018 farm bill opened the door for growers to process hemp plants to achieve effects that may mimic marijuana. That has spawned a whole “marijuana-lite” or “diet weed,” industry featuring terms such as Delta 8 and Delta 10
In New Jersey, some smoke shops, convenience stores and other retailers quickly exploited the hemp loophole in advance of New Jersey voters approving recreational cannabis sales in 2020. Legislation that set tight regulations and taxes for licensed dispensary operators preceded the opening of those dispensaries in 2022
Since then, the licensed regulators have pressed state officials to crack down on the hemp-product sales. A funding bill passed by Congress in November 2025 to end a record government shutdown included strict new rules for hemp products
Before he left office in January, former Go. Phil Murphy signed a law regulating the production and sale of intoxicating hemp-derived products
Morris cracks down on ‘diet weed’
Eighteen individuals were charged in the raid, with offenses ranging from conspiracy to distribute controlled dangerous substances and unlawful possession of toxic substances to money laundering
They included Dhafer Ghaleb, owner of Vape Waves smoke shop in Montville, and employee Ali Alsayd; Madhat Abunasser, owner of True Blaze smoke shop and Wah Wah smoke shop in Boonton, and employees David Grzesiak and Firas Damra; Sandra Porras of Green Lux smoke shop in Roxbury; Ashley Naranjo Belaczar, an employee at Green Lux smoke shop in Morris Plains; Srinivasa Koppisetti, owner of Crown Cigar & Smoke in Boonton; manager Goktan Ozdemir and employee Levent Unal of Heritage Marketplace in Randolph; owner Devinder Singh and employees Dinesh Chander and Amit Pundir of MK Mini Mart in Roxbury; employee Anthony Castro of Sweet Dreams in Roxbury; owner Mead Almontaser of M&S Convenience & Cigar in Boonton; and part owners Jigarkumar Patel, Riya Patel and Meet Patel of Stardust Smoke Shop in Randolph.
Search warrants were also executed at Smoke & Deli in Boonton, which resulted in a written warning being issued for a first offense of offering for sale less than one ounce of marijuana
None of the shops are licensed to sell cannabis products. The manager of Puff City smoke shop said the chain used to sell Delta 8 hemp products, but they were removed when the new law went into effect earlier this year
” Smoke shops that sell unlicensed marijuana, intoxicating hemp products, and illegally flavored vapes are not harmless corner stores,” Caggiano said. “They are unregulated points of sale for products that our laws were specifically designed to control, whether because of their appeal to young people, their lack of any safety testing, or their connection to untaxed and unlicensed markets.”
The Boonton Council, recognizing the issue, passed a resolution earlier this year addressing “the proliferation of unregulated establishments that sell products containing psychoactive substances in various forms has become an emerging public health issue in our community..”
“While the retail sale of some of these products is permitted under federal and state laws, it has become impossible for local enforcement to monitor the legality, for consumers to monitor the safety, and local health departments to monitor the public health risks of some of these types of products being introduced to the market,” the resolution reads
Boonton’s first legal cannabiz dispensary, Boone Towne Provisions, opened last year
