ORANGE BEACH — A business owner and customers are asking for a change to a city ordinance that prohibits hemp-infused food and beverages and open the door for THC seltzers to be sold as a …
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ORANGE BEACH — A business owner and customers are asking for a change to a city ordinance that prohibits hemp-infused food and beverages and open the door for THC seltzers to be sold as a modern wellness alternative to alcohol.
Amy Crawford, who owns SunMED Medical Solutions in Orange Beach with her husband, Roger, addressed city council at a recent meeting in asking them to revise a specific word in the violations section of the city’s hemp ordinance.
“I appreciate it because it is so confusing and there’s a lot of information out there,” Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said as he introduced the couple, “so, it’s hard to decipher exactly what’s fact and what’s not.”
Crawford said the ordinance, put in place in 2023 after some “bad players in the industry” came to the city, details how, even with a license from the city to sell hemp products, it is “unlawful” to sell food or beverage that contains “hemp or hemp extracts.” She asked the council if the “beverages part be removed from the language.”
“We are asking for the opportunity to sell an alternative to alcohol,” Crawford said. “Orange Beach residents deserve a healthier alternative and the right to choose.”
The main point the city held during the discussion is the preservation of the “family-friendly brand” that Orange Beach is proud of. Councilman Jeff Boyd said that while the city has a list of priorities, “first and foremost we are a family-oriented city."
“Every bit of that is why people want to move here,” Boyd said, “so, for every crack in that door we allow a little bit more, we make a little bit more of a notch away from what our core principal of mission is.”
SunMED sells four variations of hemp-derived seltzers that are designed in proper serving sizes or dosages for an individual. The store also sells hemp-derived tinctures, legal according to the city’s hemp product ordinance, which can be added to drinks, but is up to the user to add a proper amount.
The cans provide a premixed version of the products, creating a beverage that is illegal according to the city’s code of ordinance.
Crawford shared how she gave up alcohol two years ago and has stuck to it. For her, THC seltzers played “a key part in my journey.”
At SunMED, Crawford explained, every product that has traces or amounts of THC are all hemp-derived. The store does not sell anything “marijuana-related.”
“It’s not legal for anyone in the state of Alabama to be selling marijuana,” Crawford said, “so, if there’s THC on the market it has to be derived from hemp.”
Crawford explained that the two are “cousin plants in the cannabis family,” but marijuana has higher THC levels and lower cannabinoid levels, where hemp contains lower levels of THC but higher levels of cannabinoids.
While both THC and CBD can help manage pain and anxiety for some users, THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the part of the plant that gives you the high that is associated with these types of products, while CBD, one of many types of cannabinoids, does not result in a high.
Even though they have similar chemical structures by both containing THC and CBD, marijuana and hemp are different plants.
In the state of Alabama, a hemp-derived product must contain less than 0.3% of THC to be legally sold. This is also the federal law on hemp products.
Something else Crawford explained was how synthetic or non-natural THC products can cause reactions such as heart palpitations, seizures, anxiety-like symptoms and shortness of breath. She said if any of these occur, “that is not THC” that you are partaking in.
“There are no known side effects from natural THC besides the munchies and tiredness,” Crawford said.
Products like THCJ, HHC and Delta 10 are synthetic forms of THC that are often “sprayed with chemicals to produce a higher high.” She recommended users who often find themselves feeling these reactions to check product’s lab reports, concentration levels and the types of THC advertised to verify it comes from natural sources.
All of SunMED’s products are naturally sourced and derived.
Crawford told council THC seltzers allow her to still drink with her friends in social settings without alcohol. She said the drinks provide a "relaxing buzz" rather than getting stoned or drunk.
“That’s something I used to rely on alcohol for,” Crawford said.
While the three black labeled seltzers from SunMED have THC in them, the white labeled one only contains CBG, another cannabinoid, which is a hemp derivative. All are unlawful in Orange Beach.
After Kennon asked, Crawford explained how users would not be able to pass a drug test after drinking from the black cans. Kennon said whether residents and city employees would fail a drug test was something brought up in previous meetings concerning the ordinance.
Even though marijuana and hemp are different plants, they show up the same in a traditional drug test.
Boyd added that the levels or percentages of THC have been an issue with THC vapes as well.
He said these types of products are put in “a very big predicament of our ordinance versus what may or may not seem to be acceptable in society.”
“I see (THC seltzers) all over the place,” Kennon said. “The question there becomes ‘do we insert ourselves?’ We already sell alcohol, so do we now determine whether an adult can have the black can or not?”
Crawford explained that the THC seltzers should be held at the “same standard as alcohol” as the cans say do not operate machinery or drive a vehicle while drinking and the products are for people over the age of 21.
However, one difference she mentioned between these seltzers and alcohol is the team at SunMED works to educate users on therapeutic levels of THC.
“I’ve never gone into a liquor store and have someone tell me therapeutic levels of my Jack Daniels,” Crawford told Gulf Coast Media.
Her husband, Roger, said at the meeting, “We educate every customer that less is more; half a can is a serving. You want to sip on this; you don’t want to just chug a can. We’re not here to get you high; we’re here to help you with an ailment.”
Crawford said Orange Beach has 13 liquor stores and that despite the city’s family-based priorities, “alcohol tears families apart.”
The alcohol comparison was later brought up in the meeting when discussing certain legislation that might require childproof caps on THC cans. This confused Crawford as “Budweiser, Jack Daniels and Everclear” aren’t in childproof containers.
Kennon was concerned with how the police department would be able to tell if someone is driving after drinking a THC seltzer. Steve Brown, Orange Beach chief of police, said there isn't a way as “a fermented beverage emits an odor” and THC seltzers do not.
Roger Crawford had a solution that had the meeting attendees and council laughing for quite a while.
“As far as how do you tell if somebody’s high when you pull them over,” said Roger Crawford, “the only way I can say is to just walk up there with a Twinkie.”
While discussion at the council meeting detailed how the process to test whether a product has illegal levels of THC was a lengthy and often difficult one, Amy Crawford discovered after the meeting a one-minute test kit that looks for CBD and the presence of more than 0.3% of THC.
This could be used by an officer to test the legality of products found in a car. She also mentioned how she discovered there were tests that can test whether someone has active or inactive THC in their system, showing if they are driving high or had only enjoyed a seltzer the night before.
Most of these testing kits are being used by Orange Beach Police Department (OBPD) or are being looked into for implementation.
“Orange Beach has the No. 1 drug and alcohol testing in the nation,” Crawford said, “… I’m really impressed with the Orange Beach Police Department for investing in something like this to be on the forefront of that. It’s something that we’re going to have to have.”
Councilman Jerry Johnson said, “It does seem to be an alternative to pure alcohol, but we can’t afford a person to get in a car late at night and have a head on collision or something like that, and hopefully this (the THC seltzers) wouldn’t increase that.”
Ray Grooms, a disabled veteran, uses CBD products. After being caught in an RGB blast in October 2007, Grooms medically retired from the military in 2010.
“At some point, medicine has done every surgery they possibly could do for you, and you’re told ‘that’s it’ and there’s nothing more,” Grooms said. “‘All we can do is manage your pain.’ I tried a variety of things (after that).”
He said he tried physical therapy to no avail. At the time, “tramadol was the latest and greatest drug,” which he said now is known to have similar effects to opioids. After getting to a point where he was “taking an obscene amount of the drugs,” doctors switched him to opioid products.
“I continued that for years until SunMED, and (then) I started using their CBD seltzer products,” Grooms said. “I am opioid-free. I do not take any drugs. I take nothing. I don’t even take Excedrin for migraines because I am able to use their CBD products.”
Grooms requested the change in the city’s ordinance to allow THC seltzers. He mentioned the “danger” of relying on the water-soluble tinctures and those who buy them to make drinks with the proper dosage.
“They said one drop (of the tincture) was equal to what’s in their cans,” Grooms said. “How do you control that when you’re just using a dropper out on the beach mixing a drink? You might do too much.”
While he said he thinks the ordinance is great the way it is, he feels the city could “strengthen it” by eliminating the word “beverage.”
Chelsey Roeck, owner of Gulf Coast Roast in Foley, sells SunMED seltzers in her store. She spoke to the council on how she uses the products to help her anxiety. Roeck also mentioned how she and her husband both stopped drinking alcohol after finding these products around the first of this year.
Jordan Epperson also spoke to council on how THC seltzers have helped her quit drinking. She said she has noticed an increase in her energy and activity levels since she switched alcohol for THC.
Chris Dickhute works as a videographer and is “constantly looking at a computer screen.” He said the SunMED products help him relax and get “quality rest at night,” which is hard to come by “for a guy who’s on edge.”
Roger Crawford said if the ordinance is changed, he would like to organize visits from “people like us” to schools to educate students on why they shouldn’t use SunMED products as “no one explained” to him how THC works — and doesn’t work — depending on what stage of human development a user is in.
“I grew up in the Raegan era. ‘Say no to drugs,’ that’s all they said to us,” he said. “What does a kid do when you say no? You go do it, right? But I didn’t understand. I didn’t have the receptors that were able to receive THC, and it was actually like tying a rock around my ankle and holding me back.”
He suggested creating a hemp tax for the city with half of the tax funding educational purposes and the other half going to OBPD for drug and alcohol testing.
The main thing holding the city back is the action currently underway at the state level. Amy Crawford explained how Senate Bill 132 is set to ban all hemp and THC products, “making it a controlled substance equal to heroin.”
She said the state health care committee has major influence and “zero expertise in our field,” yet the state is “making a law about our livelihood.”
“They’re fighting over who’s going to monopolize the industry in their favor, so they’re going to create permits and licenses and taxes,” Roger Crawford said. “They’re probably in the end going to end up forcing us out of business financially.”
She said a similar ban was attempted in Arkansas, where the couple owns two other SunMED stores, and they were successful in having it overturned at a federal level.
She regularly encourages those who do not want to see the bill passed should go to www.hempsupporter.com to send a prefilled letter to your Alabama senator. She said it can be filled out anonymously, but a zip code will be required.
Kennon mentioned how he appreciated the education the Crawford couple provided, and the council agreed.
After over 40 minutes of discussion, Kennon said council will likely wait until action has been taken at the state level so “they can be the bad guys” or “they can be the good guys.”
“Is it the lesser of evil by offering something that is less toxic than alcohol, or does it open the door (to allow) whatever?,” Kennon said. “I don’t know … but the minute you start compromising your brand, you have no brand. And we have really fought strongly not to compromise our family-friendly brand, but I can see the value of that (seltzer).”
