The impact of recreational marijuana legalization on THC businesses

By Remi Murrey

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    CLEVELAND (WEWS) — Off Denison Avenue in Cleveland, Corinne Kelly says you’ll find a new shop on the block offering the legal limit of hemp-derived products like Delta 8 THC products.

It’s a derivative of hemp similar, but not quite as potent as marijuana.

“We have great stuff and I always think there’s going to be a market for good quality products,” said Happy Place Premium Smoke Shop Co-owner Corinne Kelly.

Kelly tells News 5’s Remi Murrey she and her co-owner Evin Peavy opened Happy Place Premium Smoke Shop just days before voters passed Issue 2 to legalize recreational marijuana.

“We can’t compete with the big guys that have a ton of space and hundreds and hundreds of products. That’s not what we want to do,” said Kelly.

Instead, Kelly says their goal is to offer their customers access to quality supply that is safe from distributors and brands who are vetted in the industry.

Kelly and Evin Peavy say they even place QR codes on the back of each of their products for customers to know what’s inside.

“When you scan this QR code, it takes you right to the products website. It shows you the product that we have here; it shows you the potency of it, as well as the full breakdown of the THC that’s inside of it,” said Happy Place Premium Smoke Shop Co-owner Evin Peavy.

In the past, News 5 has talked to legal experts like Frantz Ward Partner Tom Haren about Delta 8 THC, which is made from hemp.

We learned it has similar psychoactive effects as marijuana since it comes from the same cannabis plant.

However, marijuana has higher levels of Delta 9 THC, whereas hemp only has less than .3% Delta 9 THC.

“My joke is always: What some people call loopholes, I call compliant businesses,” said Haren. “Because it’s compliant with the rule, it’s not a loophole.”

Since the legalization of recreational marijuana, we reached out to Haren on Thursday, and in a statement, he said Delta 8 products are not subject to the same restrictions as marijuana with respect to where they can be sold.

Kelly tells News 5 she’s optimistic about how legalizing marijuana will impact the shop.

However, she expects challenges to arise due to changing regulations on top of growing interest from consumers and competition.

“I think it’s going to help us in the long run. But I think it’s going to be a bit rocky to begin with,” said Kelly.

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