Local shops react to DeWine’s call for limits or ban on Delta 8 sales

State officials sent a pair of 15-year-olds to a gas station on Clark County where they bought Delta 8 products with no difficulty. DeWine displayed the items they purchased, including a colorful pack of gummies sponsored by NBA star James Harden and two cereal bars with packaging that spoofed popular brands.

Credit: PROVIDED

Credit: PROVIDED

Chris Voudris, managing partner at Vapor Haus, which operates shops around Dayton, said in a statement that he agrees with the governor’s stance on keeping the product away from minors but said the governor’s illustration of the industry was narrow.

“What was shown, were, in fact, knockoff products that are not sold in the mainstream and are manufactured by companies that have been litigated against by major companies due to trademark infringement,” Voudris wrote. “The majority of legitimate retailers do not carry these products.”

Voudris said he agrees with the governor’s stance on keeping products away from minors, but noted that “the businesses who are good actors in the industry are doing these things already.”

Jeff Butterfield, owner of ButterBuds Canna Co. in Monroe, told this news organization that he’s been carding people since day one. He called it the “responsible thing to do” for shop owners and admitted he didn’t even know shops could forego that option in Ohio.

And while he, too, agrees with the state banning direct sales to minors, he feels a total ban on Delta 8 or any other cannabinoid would be a step too far.

“Delta 8 isn’t the issue. It’s shady shops being shady,” Butterfield said. He characterized a ban as “more government control that is summing down people that should be (able) to make their own decisions and have more self-accountability for their own actions.”

The Delta 8 compound is one of over a hundred cannabinoids that can be extracted from hemp, a low-THC cannabis plant that was legalized in the 2018 Federal Farm Bill. It’s one of a few compounds that have been shown to give users the feeling of being high. Many of the other compounds, like CBD, have been popularized as alternatives to some medicines.

DeWine said he’d be “very happy to have (Delta 8) banned,” when he was asked if he’d like to see it regulated similarly to how the state is trying to regulate recreational marijuana. But he said he’d be satisfied with any movement on regulating the product.

Gary Wenk, an emeritus professor of behavioral neuroscience at the Ohio State University who has studied cannabinoids for over 20 years, told reporters that government action on Delta 8 is only the first of possibly many cannabinoids that are “legal and harmful but slips under the radar,” that the state will have to deal with.