Pacific Wellness to offer topical products with CBD

By JESSICA HARDIN

jhardin@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

The debate surrounding the legal status of CBD in Ohio is playing out in three stores in Boardman.

Pacific Wellness, which opened April 5, is the latest shop in the township to sell cannabidiol products. Pacific Wellness sells topical products that contain CBD, the nonpsychoactive compound found in hemp and cannabis. CBD is credited with treating a host of medical issues, from epilepsy to anxiety.

Currently, sale and use of CBD, which is defined as marijuana, is illegal in Ohio.

Since Ohio legalized medical marijuana September 2016, and “because [CBD] falls under the definition of marijuana, the only way you could have and use it is to purchase it from a medical marijuana dispensary as part of the medical marijuana control program,” said Grant Miller, medical marijuana patient and caregiver liaison with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy.

The legality of CBD is further complicated by the federal Farm Bill signed into law December 2018. The bill differentiates hemp from cannabis by defining hemp as a cannabis plant that contains no more than 0.3 percent THC, or tetrahydrocannabidiol, the intoxicating compound in marijuana.

Further, the bill specifies that hemp is no longer a controlled substance under federal law.

Dave Braff, who owns Pacific Wellness, grew up in Boardman, but has been living in California for 40 years.

Braff’s mission is to educate the local community about the benefits of CBD and combat the substance’s stigma.

“The stigma is still out there, because people don’t do the research,” Braff said, arguing that what he’s doing is legal.

“I’ve taken two years to do this the right way,” he said.

Pacific Wellness currently sells only topical products. It plans to sell ingestible CBD in the store once it becomes legal, and that could happen soon.

Ohio Senate Bill 57, which unanimously passed that General assembly chamber March 28, would decriminalize hemp and license hemp cultivation.

Until legal changes are made, however, local law enforcement has been enforcing the law.

After consultation with the prosecutor’s office and guidance from the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, Boardman Police Department issued cease-and-desist letters to Living Naturally Health Market and Health Food Center in March. Police chief Todd Werth delivered a letter to Pacific Wellness on Friday, he said.

“We’re going to enforce the law. We don’t make it. We don’t comment on it,” Werth said.

“The state Legislature will hopefully act expeditiously and clarify this issue. In the meantime, we’ll support police in whatever action they take,” said Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains.