Your CBD Store opens in English Village

The U.S. Congress in December 2018 passed a bill that legalized the sale of products derived from industrial hemp plants. The plants contain cannabidiol, or CBD, a compound that many people say possesses medicinal qualities. 

Since the bill’s passage, stores that sell CBD-infused products have popped up around the Birmingham metro area, including in Trussville, Hoover and on U.S. 280. The boom recently reached Mountain Brook, too. 

Joe Tanko, a retired federal government employee, opened Your CBD Store — Mountain Brook at 600 Olde English Lane, Suite 128, in English Village earlier this summer. 

He held a soft opening June 3 and a grand opening June 20 that featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Stewart Welch. 

There, Tanko clarified what his business is, and what it isn’t. 

“We’re not doctors. We don’t profess to be doctors. We don’t prescribe medicines,” he said. “Basically, these are supplements into a regular routine that you would have with anything else you’re eating or doing through the day.”

Tanko’s store sells a variety of CBD products from the brands SunMed and SunFlora. They include water-soluble drops and capsules, tinctures, moisturizers, creams, lip balms, bath bombs, gummies, hard candies and vape cartridges. Your CBD Store also carries a line of pet products.  

Tanko said what he sells in his store contains CBD sourced from a grower in Colorado. It does not contain tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the compound found in marijuana plants that gets people high. 

Tanko’s store manager, Conner Hodgkins, said many people confuse CBD with THC, contributing to stigmatization. 

“CBD is derived from industrial hemp, whereas marijuana, which contains the psychoactive drug THC, is derived from the marijuana plant,” Hodgkins said. “They’re both species of cannabis. Just hemp is very high CBD, very low THC. Marijuana is very low CBD, very high THC.” 

The Farm Bill mandates that hemp products contain no more than 0.3% THC. If they do, they are illegal. Tanko said that what he sells complies with the law and doesn’t even have minimal amounts of THC. His products undergo lab testing before they appear on his shelves, he said.

There also are codes on the packaging of his products that allow customers to look up lab results and verify composition.   

“It’s health without the high,” Hodgkins said.

Hodgkins, Tanko and other CBD proponents espouse its many benefits. Tanko said it can help people who suffer from anxiety, chronic pain, sleep disorders, arthritis, epilepsy and PTSD, among other ailments.

“I think if you name anything that’s going on with you in your body, there’s something that CBD can do,” Tanko said. 

Although many people laud CBD’s healing properties — and herald it as a legitimate alternative to pharmaceuticals — its medicinal value has not been officially validated by the Food and Drug Administration. 

One disclaimer on the SunMed and SunFlora website says their products “are not intended for the cure, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in man or animal.” Another disclaimer on the site says the company makes “no claims or assertions about the outcomes or accuracy of THC tests” but stands by the third-party lab reports.  

Rozetha Burrow, the Mountain Brook Police Department’s business liaison officer, attended Tanko’s grand opening in late June. She said she didn’t know too much about CBD before coming to the event, but she left confident that the city had performed its due diligence before permitting the business to open. 

She also emphasized that she isn’t worried about its presence in the Mountain Brook community. 

“As long as it’s legal, I’m very comfortable with it. We welcome him with open arms,” Burrow said. “[Tanko] reassured me, the mayor and city council that the product he sells is legal.” 

Tanko said his business is the 21st Your CBD Store to open in Alabama and the 345th to open in the U.S. since last year. He said the company was started by an in-law of his daughter, Lauren Beno, who opened a Your CBD Store location in Florida last fall with her husband. 

“We’re not a franchise company. We’re an affiliate group,” Tanko said of his store. “We are separate and independent on our own. We follow the company guidelines on what we sell and certain decor they want in the facility.”

Molly Wallace, a project manager for the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce, said she has heard nothing but positive feedback since Your CBD Store opened its doors. She foresees a bright future.

“I think it’s going to be a great fit for English Village,” Wallace said. “Every village kind of has its own personality when you break it down, and English Village has a little more artsy vibe.”

Your CBD Store is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, go to truecbd4u.com.