Homegrown Bar & Grill Sues Government Over Hemp Seizure, Cites Fifth Amendment Violations
A St. Croix business has filed suit in federal court against the Government of the Virgin Islands, alleging that the unlawful seizure of its hemp inventory violated constitutional protections and seeking compensation for products confiscated during a 2025 raid.
2026-02-20 16:27:23 - VI News Staff
On Thursday, Homegrown Bar and Grill initiated an action for declaratory and injunctive relief against the Government of the Virgin Islands, naming the Commissioners of the Department of Health and the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs as defendants, along with the Office of Cannabis Regulation.
According to the complaint, Homegrown Bar and Grill is “a licensed hemp products retailer” that “lawfully purchased and stocked both non-intoxicating and intoxicating hemp-derived products at a time when such products were and still are federally legal.” The lawsuit states that in April 2025, the Department of Health, DLCA, OCR, and the Virgin Islands Police Department conducted a raid at the establishment and seized its hemp inventory “without any lawful authority, without any statutory basis, and without paying – or offering to pay – just compensation, in clear violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.”
The civil complaint emphasizes that Bill 36-0105 was not signed into law until January 2026. Now codified as Act 9072, the statute requires retailers to immediately surrender intoxicating hemp products in their inventory to the Department of Health for storage and eventual disposition. The complaint notes that the Act does not provide for compensation to business owners for the loss of their inventory.