Matt Keller, manager of Curaleaf’s The Hemp Co. (THC) store in West Palm Beach, helps customer Teresa Lopes pick out a product. This is the medical marijuana distributor’s first hemp store that adults 21 and older can access without a medical marijuana card. (Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
After spending millions promoting last year’s failed effort to legalize recreational weed in Florida, medical marijuana distributor Curaleaf is trying a new approach.
The distributor recently opened a hemp-only store at its former dispensary site in West Palm Beach. Consumers ages 21 and older don’t need a medical marijuana card to purchase what it calls “premium tested and Farm Bill-compliant” THC-infused edibles and beverages.
Unlike at smoke shops that have popped up in strip malls across the state, shoppers won’t be bombarded with a confusing array of vapes, prerolled cigarettes, candies, cookies, tinctures and other products.
Related Articles
Could failure to legalize recreational weed change future of medical marijuana in Florida?
Medical marijuana company appeals ruling blocking weed sales at convenience stores
Medical marijuana registration changes move forward in Florida House
The Hemp Company (the first letters spell THC) offers a limited selection of low-THC edibles and beverages manufactured by Curaleaf, including its Select brand, or third-party distributors.
Curaleaf says its products are manufactured at facilities under regulations enforced by the Food and Drug Administration “with high standards and strict quality control processes.” All include “transparent labeling with ingredients and potency listed” as well as QR codes that link to certificates of analysis from independent testing labs, the company says.
Samantha Brewer works the counter at Curaleaf’s The Hemp Co. (THC) store in West Palm Beach, helping customer Teresa Lopas pick out a product. This is the medical marijuana distributor’s first hemp store that adults 21 and older can access without a medical marijuana card. (Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The company says it is actively looking for locations throughout Florida to expand the hemp-only concept beyond the standalone boutique at 300 Clematis St.
Responding to questions from the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Curaleaf’s Chairman and CEO Boris Jordan said the decision to use the storefront — nestled among restaurants and clothing shops in West Palm Beach’s pedestrian-focused downtown — to test its new concept “was driven by the location’s high visibility within the area.”
If the medical marijuana amendment had passed with 60% of the vote, Curaleaf would likely have opened it up to adult-use marijuana sales alongside medical marijuana, similar to how the company’s stores operate in other states with legal weed laws, store director Matt Keller said in a recent interview. He stressed that’s an educated guess and not something he heard from Curaleaf executives.
Converting it to a hemp-only store allows the company to sell THC products — including beverages, which cannot be sold in dispensaries — to anyone 21 and over, he says. Potential customers include tourists or part-time residents who live in states with medical marijuana or legalized weed but, due to federal transportation laws, could not bring their medicine on the plane, he says.
The company is also marketing to Florida residents who for many reasons don’t want their names on the state’s medical marijuana registry.
And unlike medical marijuana dispensaries that only accept cash, The Hemp Company accepts credit and debit cards.
Keller, who became store director after a stint in Curaleaf’s marketing department, says he turned to medicinal weed after quitting drinking and joining Alcoholics Anonymous. “Alcohol kills, cannabis chills,” he says.
He can describe in detail the various cannabinoids in the plant, how they interact with the body’s two main cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, and how the products have helped him get off pharmaceuticals and address weight gain, high blood pressure and post-traumatic stress disorder.
On its website, the FDA warns that many questions remain unresolved about the effectiveness and safety of products containing THC, the ingredient in the cannabis plant that causes psychoactive effects, and cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD.
The FDA has approved just one CBD product, Epidiolex, in 2018, for treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, after finding that the drugs benefits outweighed risks for patients with those disorders.
Two products containing synthetic THC, Marinol and Syndros, have been approved, as has Cesamet, containing a substance similar to THC, according to the National Institutes of Health. Those products are used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy and loss of appetite and weight loss in people with HIV/AIDS.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration warns on its website of potential effects from long-term THC use, including impaired learning, memory and thinking, breathing problems and nausea and vomiting.
Long-term CBD use, the administration warns, can lead to liver problems and issues with male reproductive health.
One size does not fit all
At The Hemp Company store, Keller says some customers who come in seeking edibles are accustomed to buying from a marijuana dispensary,. He or one of the store’s other employees try to match them with a similar product by asking why they use it. Is it for head pain? Stomach pain? Insomnia?
A recent customer, Teresa Lopas, visiting from North Kingstown, Rhode Island, was in the store to purchase gummies with a high ratio of CBD to THC to treat skin inflammation stemming from psoriasis and eczema. The 70-year-old described herself as a former hippie who began smoking pot in 1969.
Rhode Island is an adult-use state, but Lopas says Keller found a product that worked more effectively to ease her ailments she buys at her dispensary back home.
Lopas says she rarely smokes anymore. She was delighted to hear that Keller visits senior communities to discuss how the products might alleviate the aches and pains of aging.
Sleep aid products are seen on display at Curaleaf’s The Hemp Co. (THC) store in West Palm Beach on Monday, April 28, 2025. This is medical marijuana retailer Curaleaf’s first hemp store that adults 21 and older can access without a medical marijuana card. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“Almost everybody I know who’s my age isn’t getting any sleep,” she says. “Everybody has inflammation — older people even more so. People are dealing with joint pain and inflammation and insomnia.
“And if they get their hands on some good gummies, that is going to relieve that joint inflammation, help them be more mobile, eliminate their pain and help them sleep. And at the same time, be totally relaxing and take the edge off their day, or whatever they’re dealing with. So, yeah, it’s really powerful stuff.”
THC from hemp and marijuana produce ‘the same experience’
Products listed as containing 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg or 15 mg of Delta 9 THC per serving provide the same experience as comparable products made with marijuana, Keller says.
The federal government removed hemp from its list of controlled substances in 2018 but only for plants containing THC at levels of .3% or less per plant. Marijuana, by comparison, can contain between 5% and 35% THC.
Hemp product manufacturers simply use more plants to create products with the same amounts of THC as marijuana-derived products, Keller says.
In smoke shops, consumers might find questionable products made with chemicals such as Delta 8 THC, Delta 10 THC, THC-P and THC-0, Keller says. “Those are all synthetic cannabinoids,” Keller explains. “Meaning, they did not naturally occur in the plant.”
Various gummies are seen on display at Curaleaf’s The Hemp Co. (THC) store in West Palm Beach. This is medical marijuana retailer Curaleaf’s first hemp store that adults 21 and older can access without a medical marijuana card. (Joe Cavaretta / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Some health experts stress that products made with synthetic cannabinoids are untested and unapproved. Some require additional chemicals to convert hemp into products that get users high, the FDA says.
The Hemp Company only sells products made with Delta 9 THC, he says. And it sells no smokable products — flower or vapes — because it would have to make them from the hemp plant that’s limited to a 0.3% THC concentration. “It would be weak,” he says.
Another benefit of the hemp-only store: Customers can try Curaleaf’s growing portfolio of beverages and make later purchases through the company’s online store or at the Total Wine and More retail chain.
You can even order them through DoorDash, Keller says.
Regulation ahead?
Proposed regulation of hemp sales by the Florida Legislature could affect operation of The Hemp Company’s store, the company acknowledges.
Unlike at smoke shops that sell hemp products with high THC concentrations, proposals under consideration would, if enacted, likely require only minor changes, Keller says.
The company declined to detail what those changes might be, and comments from the state senator sponsoring one of the bills, recently reported by Politico, suggests that regulation of the hemp industry is unlikely to be approved before this year’s session expires.
Both Senate and House versions of the bills would prohibit sales of THC-infused beverages at locations that are not licensed to sell alcohol — likely not a major issue for a company with pockets as deep as Curaleaf’s.
The House version would require hemp retailers to also have a food sales permit from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and store products in areas that shoppers cannot access on their own.
Under the Senate version, THC levels in hemp beverages would be limited to 5 mg per “unopened can or bottle,” while edibles would be limited to 5 mg apiece, with a maximum of 50 mg per container.
The House version would cap beverages at 5 mg per seven ounce serving, or 10 mg per container.
Sales of products made with synthetic forms of THC would be prohibited — a restriction that would impact products sold in smoke shops — as would any form of advertising in a manner visible “from any street, sidewalk, park or other public place.”
Jordan says that hemp regulations, if enacted, shouldn’t pose a significant challenge.
“Our focus remains on offering products that elevate individual wellness journeys, and we’re prepared to adjust our offerings in accordance with state regulations,” he says. “As one of the world’s largest cannabis operators, we are well-equipped to navigate changes in the legislative landscape.”
Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.
