Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has warned the owner of a Radford store about selling or giving away products that contain the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana without proper packaging, in violation of state consumer protection statutes.
In a letter to the Good Vibes Shop, Miyares said that selling products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, without the proper childproof packaging and warning labels violates the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. He does not mention state law that forbids the sale of cannabis.
The attorney general said it has “come to our attention” that the store is advertising and selling products containing THC. He added that his office has the authority to investigate possible violations and to enforce the act, which was designed to promote fair and ethical standards of dealing between suppliers and consumers.
The certified letter, obtained by Cardinal News, was sent Wednesday to Charles Aten of Saltville, who is identified in the letter as the store’s registered agent.
Questions sent Friday to the attorney general’s spokesperson — including how the Radford store came to the office’s attention and whether other stores will also receive letters — weren’t answered.
Aten could not be reached for comment Friday, and phone numbers listed online for the Good Vibes Shop were out of service.
This is the same store that Cardinal News visited on July 25 and purchased some CBD, or cannabidiol, a compound found in cannabis; this was accompanied by a baggie of vegetative material. A lab test found that the material in the baggie contained 15.86% THC, well above the legal limit of 0.3%. It tested just under state limits for metals and microbes.
The attorney general does not have general criminal enforcement power over violations of the state’s marijuana laws, which are enforced by local law enforcement or Virginia State Police, according to Greg Habeeb, a former Republican state delegate, president of Richmond-based Gentry Locke Consulting and a representative of the Virginia Cannabis Association.
But amendments to the state’s hemp laws, which took effect July 1, 2023, impacted the sale and regulation of hemp-derived products under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The changes included giving civil enforcement authority to the attorney general’s office for products containing THC that violate the act, he added.
“It’s just another way to go,” Habeeb said of the letter, adding that the attorney general can’t file criminal charges, but he can turn information over to law enforcement agencies and he can slap retailers with hefty fines. Miyares could also file a civil lawsuit against them, Habeeb added.
The letter is likely what’s called a “civil investigative demand,” which informs the store it violated the act and requests documents and information like a subpoena, Habeeb said.
Under the consumer protection act, a product that contains THC and is sold for human consumption must be in child-resistant packaging. It must feature a label that lists all ingredients, and that states in English that it contains THC and may not be sold to anyone younger than 21. It must detail the amount that constitutes a single serving, the total percentage and milligrams of THC, and the number of milligrams of THC in each serving. And it must include a certificate of analysis produced by an independent, accredited lab, the letter states.
It appears that the Radford Good Vibes Shop is “selling products … that contain THC incident to the sale of other products” such as CBD, which is also a violation of the act, Miyares said.
“First, the packaging of the THC products sold at the Good Vibes Shop does not appear to be ‘child-resistant.’ Additionally, said packaging does not contain any meaningful labeling that states that it contains THC, including the total amount or percentage thereof; that it may not be sold to those under 21; or the amount of the product that constitutes a single serving,” the attorney general wrote.
He goes on to advise the shop to “cease and desist” selling products containing THC in violation of the act. If the store fails to do so, the attorney general’s office can seek civil penalties up to $2,500 per violation, restitution to affected consumers, reimbursement of state expenses up to $1,000 per violation and attorney’s fees, Miyares wrote.
The letter comes nearly a year after a nine-county search of Southwest Virginia cannabis-related stores by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Virginia State Police. Radford, where the Good Vibes Shop is located, wasn’t on the list of localities that were part of the operation, according to state police.
Matthew Demlein, interim public relations director for the VSP, said Friday that the investigation remains active and there’s no update to report. Other than drug-related charges filed by the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, no other charges have been filed in connection to the searches, according to state police.
Unsealed search warrants from some of the counties revealed the seizure of plant material, cash, ATMs, computers, cellphones, records, cars and guns. The search warrants in Washington County said police found evidence of a “pattern of money laundering” at some stores.
Although a few stores closed after the searches, a number of others have opened despite the police scrutiny, including in Bristol, where at least five cannabis-related stores operate along 11 blocks on State Street downtown.
The stores have popped up across Southwest Virginia amid confusion over the state’s marijuana laws. Possession of a small amount of marijuana for personal use at home is legal, but a retail market was not set up by the General Assembly, so selling marijuana is illegal.
At this time last year, most of the stores were “sharing” or “gifting” weed when customers bought an item like a T-shirt or sticker, which was deemed illegal in an opinion by Miyares.
However, in recent months, several stores in the region are simply selling it now with a membership that involves accepting a membership card or writing a name in a notebook.
Miyares ends the letter by asking Aten to acknowledge he received it in writing by Sept. 26 and to let him know if he’s following his direction to cease and desist. If he doesn’t hear from him or another representative of the shop, “we will assume that Good Vibes Shop does not intend to cease and desist from engaging in these acts and practices in violation of the VCPA,” he wrote.
