According to the Hoover Sun reported on July 1st, the Hoover City Council passed a six-month moratorium on Monday evening (July 1st), suspending the issuance of new business licenses to CBD and e-cigarette shops. City officials will also be working to establish appropriate regulations for these businesses.
Hoover city planner Mac Martin stated that the significant increase in the number of CBD and e-cigarette shops in certain commercial areas has had a negative impact on the overall business community.
Martin stated that the municipal government has also received complaints about some stores selling illegal products, as well as issues with legal products being sold illegally to minors. In addition, CBD and e-cigarette stores often violate various city and state regulations, including advertising signage requirements and the types of products sold in-store.
They will comply for a period of time, and then they will violate the rules again.
The city council passed specific regulations on e-cigarette stores in 2019, but there are no similar rules in place for CBD stores.
A regulation passed in 2019 prohibits the opening of new e-cigarette shops, tobacco shops, pawn shops, and short-term loan stores within 500 feet of residential areas, as well as within 1000 feet of K-12 schools, daycare centers, churches, public libraries, public playgrounds, parks, youth centers, or other venues primarily used for youth activities.
Furthermore, any such stores can only be located in C-2, C-3, or C-4 commercial zones and must obtain special permission from the city government to operate as a "conditional use" within these areas. Additionally, no such stores may be located within 1000 feet of another similar store.
However, these same regulations do not apply to CBD shops. As a result, some shops obtain business licenses under the guise of being CBD stores, but later begin offering a variety of e-cigarette products, which puts them in violation of city-level regulations. Due to their business classification, this situation is not easily detectable.
Martin said that in other cases, the legality of some products is also in question. Some products have labels that comply with state regulations on the THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content in products, but the Hoover city government has obtained some of these products and sent them to out-of-state labs for testing, revealing inaccuracies in the labels as the THC content is illegal in Alabama.
The nature of the product also makes regulation difficult to enforce, as some products are legal when put on the market, but become illegal substances when someone purchases them and alters their form (such as by adding water or igniting them).
We are currently in a stage where there is inadequate regulation at both the state and local levels.
Martin called on government officials to take the time to study the issue and develop better regulations, but in the meantime, they hope to prevent further increase in the number of these shops.
The suspension order will not affect existing CBD and e-cigarette stores, but rather only applies to new businesses applying for operating licenses or seeking change of ownership.
During the review process, city government officials will also pay attention to stores that sell CBD or e-cigarette products as supplementary products, such as general merchandise stores, gas stations, or pharmacies.
The council president, John Lyda, stated that the council believes it is appropriate to temporarily suspend the issuance of new licenses while city officials assess the issue and determine if additional regulatory measures are needed.
We may not end up needing to do anything in the end, but by the end of six months, we will know how to proceed.
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