Terry Gray and Monty Hagedorn opened Herb ‘N Legend 10 years ago on Luverne’s East Main Street, and they say sales since then have been steady.
Gray said typical customers are 25- to 40-year-olds shopping for tobacco products and “head shop”-type accessories, including glass pipes and decorative glass hookahs.
But business spiked sharply in recent months — to nearly 50 transactions per day — after Herb ‘N Legend began offering CBD oil and related products.
And the customers — 45 to 75-year-olds — represent a whole new brand of clientele seeking natural remedies for what ails them.
“It’s that clientele who used to peek through the window and giggle,” said Gray, who also operates a store in Sioux Falls. “Now they’re coming and making purchases.”
CBD, which stands for cannabidiol, is gaining popularity as a natural alternative to opioids and other prescription drugs that have harmful side effects, including addiction.
“Sixty to 70 percent of our customers are looking for CBD oil,” Gray said. “And they’re from all walks of life.”
He points to the wall behind the counter toward the front of the store.
“This used to be all glass pipes, and the CBD was in the back corner,” Gray said. “We moved the CBD products to the front of the store, because that’s what most people come in here looking for.”
Gray said they’re mostly seeking relief for inflammation and related conditions, such as pain, headaches, insomnia and anxiety, but CBD has a long list of reported benefits.
Hemp CBD is legal, because it has no psychoactive effects (like its close cousin, marijuana), but it’s not FDA-regulated, which means it can’t be sold as a medicine.
But Gray said the product is selling itself.
“People are coming in asking about it, because they’ve heard about it from their friends who have seen good results,” Gray said. “A few have said their chiropractor recommended they try it.”
Therapeutic relief
Mike Diaz, a 2011 Luverne High School graduate, said he discovered the benefits of CBD after debilitating knee injuries and painful surgeries that resulted in permanent screws in both his knees.
“CBD is the only alternative to prescription pain medicine that he could find,” said Diaz, who has worked at Herb ‘N Legend for two years.
“I decided it was important to learn more about it, especially since I get so much relief from it. So I studied everything I could about it, from its legalities to its chemical composition.”
As a result, he’s become the in-house CBD expert at Herb ‘N Legend, advising customers on CBD doses and differentiating among confusing definitions, like hemp oil extract vs. pure CBD.
It’s most commonly sold as oil administered by a dropper in small doses under the tongue, or as a lotion or ointment that’s applied directly to inflamed joints.
It’s also available as a dried flower — inhaled through rolled paper or a pipe.
While this is the most direct way to get CBD benefits, Gray said their more conservative clients shy away from smoking.
Also the legal hemp product looks exactly like an illegal marijuana “bud,” which makes some people uncomfortable.
But Diaz assures customers that the Herb ‘N Legend products are safe and legal because they come from registered growers where hemp production for CBD is legal.
“I’ve traveled a lot and it creeps me out to see places selling products they know nothing about,” Diaz said.
Tracking quality
He points out that all the Herb ‘N Legend CBD packages have barcodes that can be scanned to trace their registered growers and the lab breakdown showing legal levels of THC, the compound that makes people high.
“This ensures you’re getting everything you’re supposed to, and nothing that you shouldn’t,” Diaz said.
Herb ‘N Legend CBD products come from Colorado and Oregon where growers are tightly regulated to keep the THC concentrations under the allowable .3 percent.
“It’s important to us that our suppliers are legal in order for us to operate legally,” Gray said.
He said there are too many sellers that aren’t judicious about their sources and end up selling illegal products — which hurts the reputation for all CBD distributers.
Gray said he hopes to soon work with local hemp growers once Minnesota’s market becomes more established.
Until then, he said it’s satisfying to see people discovering the product. “We carry the product to improve quality of life for people,” he said. “That’s what’s been so cool about the whole process — seeing people come in and they’re happy to be feeling better.”
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Tutorial on CBD, THC, hemp and marijuana
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a naturally occurring compound found in the resinous flower of cannabis, which grows as two species — hemp and marijuana.
Both hemp and marijuana plants produce cannabinoids, the most dominant of which are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).
THC induces psychoactive effects (gets the user “high”), while CBD does not have any psychoactive properties.
Hemp contains a low concentration of THC (0.3 percent or less), and marijuana has higher concentrations of THC between 15 and 40 percent.
Marijuana, because of its high THC concentrations, is grown for recreational or medicinal use and in most parts of the world is illegal for most uses.
Hemp, on the other hand, is grown primarily for industrial purposes, such as paper, clothing, building materials, biofuel and the increasingly popular THC-free CBD oil.
While CBD has long been known to have therapeutic value, the National Institute of Health in 2018 supported clinical studies on the potential of cannabinoids to treat a variety of pain conditions.