PELHAM, Ala. — A new law in Alabama will ban the sale of smokable hemp products starting July 1, impacting stores across the state that sell THC and CBD products. The ban, part of House Bill 445 signed into law in mid-May, targets products commonly found in gas stations and vape shops.
Justin Smith, Pelham Assistant City Manager, said, “A lot of these stores that sell THC CBD products have smokable products from hemp flowers those will be banned effective July first of this year.”
This ban is expected to impact the many smoke shops or stores across Alabama which rely on the sale of these previously legal products. We spoke with the staff of Gallery Smoke in Pelham about the impact of the new law.
Noah Waters, Brand Expansion Manager at Gallery Smoke, expressed concern over the impending ban. “Those are going to be taken off of the shelves and either disposed of or taking out of state,” he said. “We’re still going to have some edibles and some infused products but as far as anything that’s smokable inhalable a lot of that is going to go in the trash.”
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Waters described the ban as a significant financial blow to businesses. “It’s a decimation of revenue, of sales, of profit, of commerce. You’re really talking about 90 percent of income that is being taken away from these shops,” he said.
He also warned of potential consequences, including a rise in illegal marijuana sales. Waters recounted a conversation with a regular customer who said, “If this happens I’m going to have to go back to the street so that’s a creation of the black market… People were leaving the streets and coming to us because that’s the thing that they prefer is they want consistent testing they want something that they know they can trust and now that that’s being taken away people are going back to the streets.”
We also received a statement from the owner of Gallery Smoke Brian Kelly:
The remainder of the bill, which includes licensing requirements for the sale of edible hemp products, dosage limitations, and enforcement by the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, will not take effect until the new year.
