Yep, this looks like the result of bad law mixing with thug behavior, both products of liberalism. The police are sort of caught in the middle.
Just the nanny state determined to end smoking through confiscatory taxation, resulting in the formation of a cigarette black market with associated thuggery. He was probably in more trouble selling the cigarettes than he would have been if they contained marijuana...small amounts of pot are apparently now being handled with a civil summons, like a speeding ticket! The outrage OUGHT to be directed at outrageous taxation and nanny-state social engineering schemes, which of course will be completely dismissed by the MSM, for the solution lies in CONSERVATISM...the “Taxed Enough Already” Party, for example ;)