Dispensaries turn away teens, welcome regulation
Nick Haseloff | The Transylvania Times
A sign outside The Plug Smoke Shop on Old Hendersonville Highway states the age limit for entry into the store. The vape and cannabis retailer self-regulates by only allowing persons above the age of 21 to enter the store.
Editor’s note: The following story is the third part of a multi-part series looking at hemp stores, smoke shops, vape retailers and convenience stores in Transylvania County which sell new “licit drugs.” For the purpose of this series we are using the term licit drugs to describe easily attainable legal substances that have mind-altering effects and are used recreationally. This third part looks at local hemp stores, age limits and self-regulation.The second part, published concurrently, looks at CARE Coalition’s recent study of licit-drug retailers. A fourth part will be published in the next edition.
Dispensary and hemp store owners and managers in Brevard say they very rarely have teens attempt to enter their stores, but when they do, the children are turned away every time.
“If you’re not 21 — at all, period — we don’t let you come in here,” said Nathan Golden, manager of The Plug Smoke Shop in Brevard.
With the rise in smoke shops, hemp stores, vape retailers and dispensaries in Brevard city limits, parents, local officials and the CARE Coalition have raised concerns about these stores’ locations near schools and other childcare facilities as vape and hemp product popularity continues to rise among adolescents.
Owners and managers of these shops say, locally at least, teens attempting to buy their products is not an issue.
Golden said he does not see high school-aged children even try to enter his store.
“From what I hear, the majority of the kids are buying them (hemp and vape products) online,” he said. “It’s easier to access, they don’t check age and it’s not regulated properly. Anybody can just buy in bulk with a regular credit card.”
A legally mandated age limit is one of the most prominent recommendations the CARE Coalition made in their smoke shop study which was released Friday. Many owners of local stores say they welcome more regulation such as age restrictions as it could bolster the public image of their businesses and increase safety and accountability in the industry.
According to CARE, all 12 of the stores which sell cannabis and other licit drugs in the city already self-impose age limits at 21.
Regulations and testing
Quality and quantity of active ingredients is another regulation which hemp store owners say they wish the industry had in place.
Many of the stores claim they already run regular third-party lab testing on their products to ensure they are within compliance for active ingredient percentages. Most of the stores which test make the results available in-store and online.
“I’m all for regulation,” John Connelly, owner of Toucan Tango said. “There needs to be a tightening up of the industry. It’s still the wild west. There’s no rhyme or reason. I’m all for having legitimate stores.”
Connelly was the first to start producing hemp products in Transylvania County. When the 2018 Farm Bill was passed, he found business partners and taught himself how to create CBD products from scratch. His small-batch FDA-certified-organic production facility on North Caldwell Street is the only of its kind in the county.
He said he would like stores which sell cannabis products to register with the government and follow more strict protocols.
“It’s going to help everybody, because if you’re registered or you have to go through a procedure, they’ve got to come and look at your store, which I hope they do.” Connelly said. “Everybody needs to have a clean workspace and that’s the people we want in the business. I think it’s going to 86 out the people that can’t comply that way.
“And I think regulations will seep into the very unregulated online business. I don’t think they want somebody making stuff in their kitchen, doing a website, putting it out there.”
Catherine Artzt, owner of Brevard Hemp, said she welcomes the change towards regulation.
“My business is essentially not regulated in North Carolina,” she said. “We no longer have a hemp bill here. As long as my product is federally legal, there’s really no regulations around what we do. I hope that changes.”
Artzt said she tests every single product her business sells online and in-store to see if it meets the current federal standards for hemp, but other stores may not have as strict of guidelines.
“If I went and got five products from every store and tested them, they would not pass the same way ours passed,” she said. “It’s not usual for them to.”
Darren Hollis, owner of Classic City Hemp, one of the newest hemp stores in Brevard, moved his business earlier this year to North Carolina from Athens, Georgia to escape tighter restrictions in the peach state.
Medical marijuana was legalized in 2015 and shortly after, in 2019, Georgia passed a hemp bill which passed many of the same regulations which are being advocated in North Carolina.
Hollis said a new hemp regulation, passed in 2024, put even tighter regulations on the measurement of active ingredients used in the hemp industry which caused many hemp stores in Georgia to go out of business.
Instead of trying to make do in Georgia, Hollis said he moved shop to North Carolina, where the laws were much more lenient.
Early this month Gov. Josh Stein started the process of creating a state advisory council to look at options for regulating the cannabis market in the state.
More information about this council and other legislative measures will be covered in a later part of the series.
Enticing packaging
Reports from public health officials such as CARE Coalition’s study and a presentation from N.C. Department of Health Regional Tobacco Control Manager Lani Callison have warned of licit drug retailers selling products containing cannabis which look like name-brand candy and other food items.
These reports showed pictures of knock-off candies bearing slightly altered names and no indication of the cannabis inside. The reports made no indication if these products were found in local stores.
CARE is advocating for stronger regulation of packaging so that the products are less confusing or appealing to children.
Golden said he does not see much of the products described in the report and The Plug does not sell any products which mimic other types of food or candy brands. The edible products he does sell are clearly labeled as containing cannabis.
Toucan Tango and Brevard Hemp sell many of their own products in store, including Brevard Hemp’s sister brand Bhumi which makes CBD and THC chocolates locally. None of the product packagings in either store bear a resemblance to popular non-cannabis food brands.
