12/01/2025
As I have already shared on social media, we have made the decision to permanently close up the Zen Den at the end of December and I wanted to share the backstory of why we are making this decision.
About 3 weeks ago, the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) in conjunction with several other local law enforcement agencies (Clemson PD, Pickens PD, and Easley PD) began raiding numerous stores in our area (including Zen Den) and cleared our shelves of all of our legal h**p products. They seized roughly $10,000 worth of legal h**p products from Zen Den and threatened to charge me with trafficking if they found any h**p products on our shelves going forward. Seeing as legal h**p products made up roughly 80% of our sales revenue, we have been left no choice but close the shop.
These heavy-handed tactics by our own government and local law enforcement agencies not only resulted in the loss of $10,000 worth of our merchandise, but also crippled our business, and left us with no legal recourse in the process. By not charging me with anything (or any of the other owners whose shops were also raided), they left us no option to defend ourselves or our products in a court of law. Our only legal recourse at this point is to band together to file a class action lawsuit against the state and local PDs, which unfortunately, will not keep us in business, as that will take potentially years just to get to court.
We started this Go Fund Me to assist with those legal costs, because I do intend to bring this fight to the courts. They have essentially ruined my perfectly legal business of more than 14 years...a place I have poured my heart and soul into for the better part of my adult life.
If you can donate to the cause, every little bit will be put to good use helping us seek some sort of justice from a very unjust situation.
If you have any additional questions or have any suggestions for us going forward, please feel free to message me on Facebook (Charlie Lathan or Zen Den of Clemson) or Instagram (). You can also message my wife Ingrid on Facebook (Ingrid Lathan) or Instagram (). Thank you so much and Happy Holidays!!!
Here is the link to our Go Fund Me page:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-the-zen-den-fight-for-justice?attribution_id=sl:901e5055-627d-4c8b-bd7b-c8e737ef13a4&lang=en_US&ts=1764136448&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_content=amp17_te&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link
