Lexington vape shop shut down over selling marijuana product. Is it legal?
A Lexington tobacco and vape shop has lost its business license after law enforcement confiscated marijuana products they say were being sold inside.
The town council voted Monday to revoke the business license for the Smoke O’s 2 location near Walmart on Sunset Boulevard, citing violations of restrictions the town puts on tobacco-related businesses.
The vape shop had been told what products were allowed to be sold when it opened, town staff told the council.
But a lawyer for the shop argued the products the store is accused of selling are legal commercial products in South Carolina, and the business license doesn’t explicitly prohibit the items from being sold.
Smoke O’s 2 attorney Benjamin Stitley said the products seized by police are a hemp derivative called Delta-8-THC, which is marketed and sold commercially in many states as a product legally distinct from what he called “good old-fashioned marijuana.”
When South Carolina legalized the cultivation of hemp, the state opened the door to the sale of hemp products like this or hemp flowers, the dried flower bud from a legal hemp plant, even in a smoke shop that also sells tobacco and pipes.
“You can look it up online and buy it directly, with the disclaimer that ‘we believe’ purchasing this is legal,” Stitely said. Referencing Columbia smoke shops, he said, “You could go down Harden Street and buy the same product.”
Law enforcement, and ultimately the town council, disagreed. The shop came to officers’ attention when a student was caught carrying its product at River Bluff High School. Police later surveilled the shop and purchased items that tested positive for marijuana content. Officers also purchased smoking implements they considered to be drug paraphernalia.
SLED agents last month confiscated the hemp products and a variety of glass pipes and smoking masks, which is a face mask with an attachment that directs smoke directly into the users face. The clerk who sold the products now faces two charges of distributing a controlled substance.
Town attorney Cliff Koon argued the sale violated the terms of the shop’s business license, saying the town strictly regulates tobacco shops. The application was initially denied because of the store’s location, and was only approved because the owner agreed to sell a limited tobacco inventory.
At a trial-like council hearing on the issue Monday, Koon had SLED agents wheel in dollies loaded high with boxes of items law enforcement had confiscated from the store as evidence of illegal activity.
Stitely argued the license itself doesn’t specifically prohibit any products from being sold, and a warning to remove the offending items should have been sufficient.
After meeting in a closed executive session to discuss the case, town council voted unanimously to revoke the smoke shop’s business license.
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 3:48 PM.
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