Legalization of recreational marijuana takes effect; smoke shops and sellers alike expect to see a change in sales

Smoke shops and dispensaries are worried about the loss of customers and sales due to the legalization of recreational marijuana with Issue 2 taking effect.

Issue 2 is in effect as of December 7 and smoke shop management and employees alike are concerned about the potential lack of sales and competition due to customer demand of recreational marijuana which may take a year to develop.

Smoke shops routinely sell medical marijuana in their stores, including CBD and Delta-8 but since the introduction of recreational marijuana, the common question is “do you have THC?”

The difference between CBD and THC is that CBD (short for cannabidiol) isn’t psychoactive. THC is the psychoactive part in weed and will get you that “high” when you smoke or eat an edible. CBD also comes in various forms like oils, vapes and extracts and is much more available in the United States than THC is according to WebMD.com

Delta-8 is a psychoactive but is made from CBD derived hemp, which is legal in the U.S. to farm.

Rebal Alhalibi, a manager at Royal Smokes in Berea, Ohio, said it’s tough to tell right now how sales are doing but can tell the difference in customer volume before the election.

“Here at Royal Smokes, I can say everyone is ecstatic about Issue 2, but it sucks when I have to push customers out the door when we say we don’t sell recreational marijuana,” Alhalibi said. “From before the election, I can tell the volume of customers is different, and usually this is a time where we are popular for Christmas gifts. Sales wise, our whole CBD and Delta-8 THC have lost a bit in sales, which is quite alarming.”

Losing customers worries employees like Rebal, especially because the nearest weed dispensary is 20 minutes away from Royal Smokes.

What the general population doesn’t know is that recreational marijuana in some places won’t be available for almost up to a year for dispensaries to have product ready to sell.

Felicia Arnold, an employee for the RISE Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Cleveland, Ohio said they are waiting on the Division of Cannabis Control to complete the process of allowing recreational marijuana to be sold.

“Although Issue 2 is now in effect, recreational cannabis is not immediately available to purchase in dispensaries. The first sales cannot occur until the newly established Division of Cannabis Control completes the rulemaking and licensing processes,” Arnold said. “The division has nine months to outline the criteria for certifying facilities.”

A common theme when Issue 2 passed, is once it became legal, there were more customers wanting recreational marijuana rather than medical, Arnold even had to push customers away.

“I have hundreds of people calling me about recreational marijuana, and when I tell them we won’t have any product for nearly a year, I want to say over three quarters of them hang up,” Arnold said. “Regarding sales, the addition of Issue 2 does not influence our medical marijuana program, but we are very excited about adding recreational into our dispensaries and are excited for our customers. We have had to push away customers looking for recreational marijuana and have lost their business however so obviously that hurts.”

The concerns of these smoke shop owners stem from the worry of how supply and demand of their products will be moving forward with the passage of Issue 2. In comparison, looking at the neighboring state of Michigan where weed was passed in 2018, the supply and demand for recreational marijuana has fluctuated.

In 2023, the industry is struggling with the oversupply of marijuana. In fact, experts say businesses won’t recover until 2025 according to bridgemi.com

What we don’t know is how recreational marijuana will make its ways into these smoke shops and dispensaries, which is up to the Division of Cannabis control, but store manager Beyonca Martinez at the Engle Smoke Shop in Brook Park, Ohio said she has a plan.

“Our smoke shop wants to keep our customers happy. Obviously adding recreational marijuana into it will drive in more customers, but we’re focused on what we have now,” Martinez said. “Although predicting business sales a year away is hard, we can definitely predict a drop in product that isn’t recreational marijuana which may have us cutting costs on stock that we have in the backroom.”
While most of these smoke shops are small businesses, they are actively competing for customers.

Sunny Patel, the store manager at BrookPark Smokes and Beverages said they are always making sure sales are up to par with where other shops are at. With the addition to recreational marijuana in the next year, they expect to surge above the competitors.

“We want BrookPark Smokes and Beverages to be the number one smoke shop in Cleveland. We are always researching and finding ways to keep sales up even while losing sales in our CBD department,” Patel said. “We want to service the customer, to keep them happy and to keep us happy. We always want to branch out to other locations, so we hope the addition to recreational marijuana to our department will help that.”