The stores’ owner, Chelsey Davis, accuses the Drug Enforcement Agency of threatening his landlords, causing many to pull leases, shuttering some stores and risking the closure of others.

Davis filed a lawsuit July 1 in federal court in Oklahoma City.

“The government may not attack what it views as illegal activity by simply putting someone out of business, through ‘leaning’ on their landlords or customers or other backdoor means,” U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton wrote in an order dated Aug. 18.

The judge’s order bars federal agents from contacting Ziggyz landlords or pursuing civil forfeiture proceedings against them until the lawsuit is settled. He previously had issued the same restrictions, but on a temporary basis.

Law enforcement agencies raided Ziggyz stores in April, seizing six trailer truck loads of merchandise, including rolling papers, glass pipes, water pipes, scales and other items, according to court testimony. Shortly after, owner Johnny Ren sold the business and remaining inventory to Davis.

The purpose of the raid was to stop sales of synthetic marijuana, an illegal substance often sold under the names spice, K2 or potpourri, a spokesman for one of the agencies involved has said. A search warrant is under seal and has not been made public, and Ren has not been charged. Davis says his stores do not sell any illegal substances.

Assuming the items left on the shelves were legal, Davis reopened the stores. DEA agents then mailed letters to Davis’ landlords, stating the property “has also been used, or is being used” to sell illegal synthetic drugs. The agency could pursue civil forfeiture of the landlord’s property, the letters warned. The landlords began heading for the exits.

In a meeting with federal agents and a landlord, Davis invited the agents to the stores to point out which items were illegal, to which the agents replied: “all of it.”

Davis has asked the judge to define drug paraphernalia, characterizing the state statute as “vague.” Heaton, in his order, seems unwilling to do so. He wrote he was “unlikely” to address the request because it would require him to determine the potential uses of hundreds of items.

Micheal Salem, an attorney representing Davis, said he was disappointed by the judge’s reluctance in giving guidance on the issue, which could apply to other business owners, few of whom are willing to risk a criminal conviction to “test” legal interpretations of what is or isn’t drug paraphernalia.

The judge in his order acknowledges how frustrating it must be for law enforcement to police drug paraphernalia laws considering many items could be used for legal purposes, such as smoking tobacco, or illegal uses.

“Frustration does not warrant departure from standards of law,” Heaton wrote. “The authority of the government to attack the problem of illegal drugs and related paraphernalia does not give it leave to employ any means it can.”

Davis and the federal agencies are attempting to settle the case out of court.

Salem says the agents’ heavy-handed tactics were apparent during the raid, before his client became the owner. Agents drilled open safes in the stores, despite having a key-holder available. They cut cables connecting the store’s security systems rather than unhooking them and allowed drug dogs to defecate on floors inside the stores, Salem said.

“There was other unnecessary destruction when they broke into the house at Gaillardia in a commando-style raid to secure it,” Salem said. Ren owns a home in Gaillardia, which was raided the same day as the stores, according to news reports.