Enter any smoke shop in Virginia, and you'll notice something has changed.
Gone are the days when these stores simply sold cigarettes, pipes, bongs and Grateful Dead paraphernalia.
Today, the average tobacco shop boasts a catalog of chemical products designed to alter the mind: gummies to stimulate focus, vaporizers to circumvent burning tobacco, syrups to induce calm.
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The products are part of an industry that goes mostly unregulated and is increasingly leading to emergency room visits at poison control centers. One laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University has been investigating the over-the-counter products independently, finding that the products rarely match their labels.
With the help of a million-dollar testing gizmo, Michelle Peace has been digging into smoke shop products for about a decade. Her machine, affectionately named "BB8" after the "Star Wars" robot, is ruthlessly efficient: It can identify every foreign chemical in, say, a smoke shop gummy.
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Then, Peace simply compares her test results to a product's label. The results are all over the board, she said.
Peace has found vaporizers that contain alcohol and CBD oils with dangerous designer chemicals as well as mushroom-based products that say they do not contain the psychedelic mushroom psilocybin and yet they do.
Smoke shop products are not regulated in Virginia, although some require a buyer to be over the age of 18. The only agency that pulls products from shelves is the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Earlier this year, it pulled chocolates and gummies from 35 stores in Virginia after a recall order was issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The recall came after the product was connected to 66 hospitalizations and two potential deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The company in question, Diamond Shruumz, also published a statement advising buyers to stop eating some of its products.
Experts tested gummy brands
Peace's concerns are shared by doctors at the University of Virginia. Earlier this year, the Blue Ridge Poison Center at UVa reported four hospitalizations -- including for a 3-year-old -- linked to mushroom gummies advertised as "nootropics." Nootropic is a broad term used to market a product that improves cognition and brain function.
To investigate, poison experts at VCU tested five mushroom gummy brands they bought at central Virginia smoke shops and gas stations.
"We found that three out of five brands contained psilocybin or psilocin," said Dr. Avery Michienzi, assistant medical director with the poison control center. "We also found ephedrine, which has been a banned substance in the past because it's associated with a risk of brain bleeds."
Smoke shop owners told Michienzi that the mushroom products were part of a "new wave" of nootropics that arrived in the summer of 2022.
The mislabeling problem applies to vaporizers as well. Several years ago, Peace was monitoring the popular vape brand Juul, which was since acquired by Henrico County-based Altria.
Peace tested Juul pods to find one flavor contained an industrial solvent monitored by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
She also identified a harmful cannabinoid in a CBD oil sent to her by a wary consumer. CBD oil, derived from the cannabis plant, is meant to alleviate pain. After that, she called the DEA. She had identified a designer drug called 5F-ADB, which can be deadly.
"The company had a safety page on their website that said, 'all-organic,' 'all-natural,' 'great for your children,' 'great for your PTSD,'" Peace said. "The more I read about it, the angrier I got."
The product's manufacturer is Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Diamond CBD. Diamond CBD is still in operation, selling everything from relaxation oils to "libido gummies." The company did not return an emailed request for comment on Peace's findings: that 4 out of 9 tested products contained 5F-ADB. Diamond CBD's products carry a sticker, a "certificate of analysis," that conveys the impression the products are lab-tested and safe.
'The consumers have no idea'
Some consumers would prefer smoke shop products remain unregulated. Earlier this year, an effort to regulate a popular product called kratom caused a minor online uproar. Kratom is a plant powder derived from a Southeast Asian tree.
Once used by farmers to stay awake, it has spurred a cult following in the U.S. as well as a commercial industry. Users say it can help fight off cravings that come with addiction. It may accomplish that feeling because it binds to the same receptors in the brain as opioids do, which is why many experts believe it to be addictive.
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However, when a group of pharmacists asked to make kratom a Schedule I drug, they were met with thousands of online comments swearing that regulating kratom would hurt more than help. The pharmacists' effort failed, and kratom remains available over the counter.
Like other products, Peace has found kratom companies also get away with inaccurate marketing. In the case of kratom, it's because drinks and powders with the substance contained higher concentrations than indicated on their labels.
"The consumers have no idea," Peace said. "And they trust that when they go into any store, they're buying a product that is truly tested, truly legitimate."
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Luca Powell
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Luca Powell
Investigations and Criminal Justice Reporter
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