CBD: The Shop

“As I learned doing the research for what was supposed to be one article but instead turned into three, CBD is a complex subject. ”

I walked into Get Me Some Green in the Hoods CrossRoad Shopping Center in the same way I’m sure many of their customers do: with a head full of misconceptions. Admittedly, I hadn’t hit the books (Google) yet on the science and the history of CBD, so my expectations for a CBD store were a little more headshop/bud bar than health food store.I had imagined glass cases and shelves full of different CBD products - pills, vaporizers, gummy bears, and baked goods all for my choosing.

But in reality, Get Me Some Green had some classy wooden shelves with a sparse selection of pills, smokable hemp located in glass cookie jars behind the register, and a small assortment of creams and roll-ons. Oh, and one small jar of CBD gummies. They do have a green accent wall though behind the register, which livens up the place. The vibe is much more health food store than trendy bud bar.

Heather and Eric Wiskes, the owners of Get Me Some Green, say there is a very good reason there shop is set up that way: they want their customers to feel comfortable inside of their store. All of their customers. They want to have a place where you are comfortable to bring your kids-a place where your grandparents would be comfortable to shop. 

“We’re not a Walmart for CBD, we have very specific products for very specific reasons”

— Heather & Eric Wiske

Heather and Eric’s goal is to help demystify CBD and the plants that it comes from and to help our community understand the potential health benefits. That’s why they say the only offer their trusted brands to their clients. "We're not a Walmart for CBD, we have very specific products for very specific reasons.” 

In creating a space that’s comfortable for everyone, Heather also wants potential customers to feel alright walking into the shop and asking questions, even if they don’t buy anything. She says her bottles are all on display because she wants her clients to feel secure in picking them up and looking at them, even if they know nothing about CBD, or everything they thought they knew was wrong. “We’re on a mission to provide education and high quality products, both local and national, to really demystify the plant to help the whole community.” 

And of course, she wants everyone to stop buying their CBD from the gas station. “Every business has their specialty. Gas stations know their gas. I know my CBD...I always encourage people first get educated before you go buy it. I don’t care where you buy it, but get educated. So if you want something in a specialty arena, go to that specialty store and get educated. And I’m not the only one in the area. There’s a couple of others that are really highly educated but do your due diligence. Anything you’re going to put into your body, do your due diligence.”

After leaving her shop and doing the research for this article, I can understand Heather’s insistence on wanting to educate the community. As I learned doing the research for what was supposed to be one article but instead turned into three, CBD is a complex subject. But hopefully now you know that all those stores aren’t trying to get you high, where its been all your life, and that if you have more questions, you can go ask Heather at Get Me Some Green (or one of the other CBD shops. Just not the gas station.)

CBD: The Law

“Hemp has a multitude of uses both historically and today: textiles, building materials, livestock bedding, bioplastics and, of course, potentially in health care. ”

Last time we covered the science behind CBD and left you wondering where it's been all your life. Well, cannabis, hemp, and CBD actually has a rich history in the United States and around the world. 

It’s possible that CBD has been used medicinally since 2737 B.C., when Chinese Emperor Sheng Nung used a cannabis infused tea to alleviate many of his ailments, while the very first known cloth was made of hemp.

Spanish colonists originally brought the plant to the western hemisphere in the mid 1500’s, and a mere hundred years later, it had become a staple crop of the New England colonies. In fact, in 1619, the Virginia Assembly actually passed legislation requiring every farmer to grow hemp. 

As cotton became more common place and part of American culture, mixed with the importing of other products, hemp production began to decline after the Civil War.

And it’s easy to see why. Hemp, the cannabis plant that does not produce THC, has a multitude of uses both historically and today. It can be used to make textiles, building materials, and livestock bedding. In modern culture, it also has the added benefit of being able to be used in bioplastics and, of course, potentially in health care. 

In agriculture, it helps to maintain healthy soil by adding diversity to crop rotations, the practice of planting different crops in the same plot of land in order to improve soil health. Different plants deplete and return different nutrients into the soil. By rotating crops, agriculturists are able to maintain the best possible level of nutrients without adding synthetic compounds.

As cotton became more common place and part of American culture, mixed with the importing of other products, hemp production began to decline after the Civil War. However, as hemp fell out of vogue, interest in marijuana and its potential medicinal effects began to rise. In the United States, medical cannabis was used to treat nausea, rheumatism, and labor pain, and was available over the counter. 

But by the 1930s, marijuana use became associated with Mexican and black communities, and politicians began to condemn it as a threat to poor, hard working Americans. In the era of the Great Depression, marijuana became linked with public resentment towards immigrants and the rising unemployment rate. By 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act made the plant illegal in the United States-both hemp and marijuana. In 1970 the Controlled Substance Act banned cannabis of any kind. 

Fast forward to 2014, where a Farm Bill legalized hemp containing less than .3% THC to be grown for research purposes to study market-interest in hemp derived products. This past winter, another Farm Bill was passed expanding the 2014 Bill, allowing broad hemp cultivation and the “transfer of hemp-derived products across state lines for commercial or other purposes.”

The 2018 Farm Bill effectively removes hemp and hemp products from being classified as a federally controlled substance as long as the hemp is produced in ways outlined by the Farm Bill, follows all federal and state regulations, and is grown by a licensed grower.

The 2018 Farm Bill effectively removes hemp and hemp products from being classified as a federally controlled substance as long as the hemp is produced in ways outlined by the Farm Bill, follows all federal and state regulations, and is grown by a licensed grower. Additionally, in North Carolina, adding CBD to food or drink is also illegal.

However, current CBD regulation may change for North Carolina with impending legislation.The problem is, while the 2019 Farm Bill essentially legalized hemp, and by extension CBD so long as it's produced under the parameters of the bill, smokable hemp containing less than .3% THC looks almost identical to marijuana, which remains an illegal substance within the state. Therefore, law enforcement is unable to tell the difference between the two and wants smokable hemp to be banned. Initially, talks were in place to begin the ban this year, but that has recently been pushed to 2020.

So for the time being, this leaves CBD on the shelves and available for purchase, seemingly everywhere. For the final part of this series, I'll look at one CBD business and its role in our Matthews community. 

Top image via NCSU Industrial Hemp Research Program; bottom: example of Hemp Certificate of Analysis, including THC content.

#ThrowbackThursday: February 21, 2008

With permission, The Beacon is archiving past issues of Matthews Record (also called Matthews News and Record and The Matthews News) articles online. Throwback Thursday articles will include relevant content still facing Matthews today. This story was originally published February 21, 2008 and was written by Janet Denk.

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Economic Development in Matthews: Become proactive

Monday’s meeting at Town Hall highlights passion and perplexity around the topic

Matthews’ tax base is one of the town’s strongest suits and is the envy of neighboring communities. With the intention of maintaining a healthy blend of residential and commercial mix, the town staff hired a consultant to walk them through the process.

Their findings: A person or entity, hired by the town, and working with the Chamber, the Board, and an Advisory Board made up of community and business leaders, to proactively seek out development opportunities currently going to places like Ballantyne.

A joint meeting held Monday at Town Hall brought up a recurring them. Less dependence on residential and more on quality commercial projects, such as large offices which lure professional companies. The theory? Such employment centers would attract major employers that would live, work, and invest in the town.

A nasty word through this process has been “retail,” which flustered many local businesses who have followed this process. Several downtown landowners attended and worried about being overshadowed by the concept of major developers calling the bulk of the shots.

Bigger is not always better, was landowner Mary Yandel’s sentiment.

“People at Town Hall have a tendency to make decisions from their offices. They talk about all this vacant land or ‘potential land’ and ‘land use,’ as if they own it.”

As if, Yandel went on to explain, the landowners and their property and businesses are inconsequential.

A landowning individual from Riggsbee Salon on N. Trade was perplexed by the lack of discussion on property in downtown Matthews, particularly “retail,” which she said includes over a half-dozen individual tenants.

“Looking to our east [at Pineville], we can see what a heavy commercial tax base looks like,” pointed out Mayor Lee Myers, who attended the meeting, along with the entire Board of Commissioners, the Town Manager, and many department heads. “Looking to our west [at Mint Hill] we can see the effects of too residential tax base.”

Besides the tax base issue, the most important reason to invest in an Economic Development position, many said, would be that the Town would have a dedicated “Go To” person who can provide guidance to the town, and the developers interested in setting up shop in Matthews.

“We know the needs of businesses looking for a place to land,” said Matthews Chamber of Commerce Director Tina Whitley, “because we get the phone calls all the time. To have someone in a position to work with these inquiries would be great!”

Frank Warren, who facilitated the meeting, emphasized the function of an economic developer.

“They would not be making land use decisions, that’s the Planning Board’s function. They would not replace the Chamber of Commerce, as they have a distinct role in business development. This is about Matthews providing a place to do business and it’s about having someone in an advocacy role who can let all these other departments do their job.”

But many landowners and businesses in Matthews, particularly downtown, remain adamant about broadening discussions with regard to zoning and development. One of those is Jim Johnson who envisions, like many others, the downtown as an urban village with real businesses allowing local residents to do commonplace things.

“My benchmark for success will be when I can work, live, play, and shop without having to get in a car,” he said. “Walking and biking around the core of Matthews should be commonplace.”

Admittedly partial to downtown, Johnson speaks for many others, inside and outside the business community who reiterate the notion that Matthews leaders make creative development difficult.

“If we want to further economic development in Matthews,” Johnson said, “my advice would be to re-read the Vision Statements, re-write our zoning ordinance (to allow for more innovative development), talk witht eh landowners in our urban core and see what’s on their minds when it comes to development, and create the ED committee out of staff, commissioners, business owners, and developers.”

Common curiosities about economic development

Q. Why discuss economic development in Matthews?

A. The Town of Matthews has a healthy blend of non-exempt ad valorem tax base with 66% residential and 34% commercial and is seeking a plant to maintain this balance. The strategic economic development currently being studied in Matthews is focusing on the vacant land around the I-485 and Independence Interchange. The goal is to strengthen Matthews’ economic muscle and positioning itself on a broader employment playing field. Matthews has a lot to offer high-end employment centers, but there isn’t an entity in town that actively “recruits” potential investors. By attracting the right projects, the town will reap the tax base that comes from commercial tax revenues, which in turn will feed the local economy and contribute to the quality of work and life.

Q. We already have company headquarters in town? Why Invest in luring more?

A. Matthews location off the interstate, along with its fine quality of life can be a major draw for large industries. As southern Mecklenburg County and northern Union County continue to grow, Matthews is missing out on some major investors who want to take advantage of the airport, weather, cost of living, and general economy. Within ten years, maybe less, Independence Blvd. will become a limited-use freeway, making the need for redevelopment of land and property along that corridor equally important.

Q. Is this a one-time event or does it have an ongoing purpose?

A. Economic development provides activities and programs aimed at improving the local and regional economies. It helps to attract and create opportunities, which help to expand the tax base, increase jobs, wages, and personal incomes.

Economic development plans can cause a “ripple effect".” From their impact springs a range of related commercial activities and services. For example, Presbyterian Hospital of Matthews has served as an economic engine for medical offices and support services surround it at Sam Newell and Highway 51. The proposed Small Area Plan adjacent to the future Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in the target area mentioned above will spawn a wide variety of recreational businesses, hotels, restaurants, and other tourism and commercial enterprises.

Historic downtown Matthews is in dire need of special attention, as business owners see long term success and residents have access to meaningful shopping to compliment the outlying areas. Discussions are underway about supporting (and growing) useful and relevant development such as food stores and services like cafes, boutiques, restaurants, retail, and residential.

Jack Marble Junior's Precious Restorations

Photo by Charles Lybrand

“I love to bring things back to life, to beautify things. To take something that’s like a piece of rubble… and bring it back to form.”

— Jack Marble Jr.

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

Standing outside the blue-painted, cedar-planked Precious Restorations shop on John Street, a place that looks like an Old West saloon, is a building filled with history and nostalgia. When moving the shop from South End to Matthews, Jack Marble Jr. and his father, Jack Marble Sr., found the building offered a large interior space, ample parking and an excellent location on a heavily-trafficked main street. The mid-century building built in 1947, is on-brand for the vintage wares sold inside.

Looking through the large front windows, an old stop light and a strand of glass fishing buoys just inside give a feel like it’s an off-the-wall shop in Plaza Midwood, not Matthews. Walk through the front door of Precious Restorations (315 W. John St.) though, and you’re greeted with a deep voice from a corner, “How are you?” It’s the neighborly, down-to-earth vibe of Matthews.

There’s nothing stuffy about the shop, just a faint odor of old papers, the recognizable smell of vinyl records, and epoxy.

Jack’s voice is the one coming from a desk to the right. He looks up and smiles, chats, but continues working on the restoration of the day. On this day it’s a teapot with a broken handle. Jack gets to a stopping point, comes over and shakes my hand. His firm handshake a sharp contrast to the delicate teapot he’s carefully piecing back together.

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

On this slow morning, Jack has some time to talk, noting the few antiques dotting the floor, reminiscent of his antique dealer father’s legacy. Of the very few true antiques for sale are a vintage victrola and some other brown, well-aged pieces of furniture. Lining the walls are the crates and crates of well-organized records and CDs. In the center of the room are a vast collection of comics, the usual Marvel and DC. The more valuable ones are on display in glass cabinets alongside Star Wars collectibles and estate jewelry.

Ask Jack about himself and it’s apparent: he’s far less comfortable taking center stage, a clue to how deeply entwined he is with his work. In a shop full of treasures, he has little attachment to the cool toys and pottery all around. He’s more interested in sharing the stories: how things ended up with him, and, for more unique pieces, he’ll explain the original use. He knows the provenance of the antique display cabinets which may look familiar to those who have been in Matthews for a while. The large wood and glass boxes came from Holiday Haus, a since-closed antique shop that was once on Trade St in downtown Matthews.

Visit long enough and Jack will use his uncanny ability to get you to share your story, keeping the focus off himself. He’s trained in music and loves to listen to all sorts, but can’t peg a genre that’s a favorite. Though not a fan of gangster rap, there’s something of a twinkle in his eyes that hints he just hasn’t heard the right album yet.

Get him started on restoration work and his face lights up. He’s got a wall lined with paintings to bring back to their vibrant, original state, and it’s evident that’s where his heart is. “I love to bring things back to life, to beautify things,” he said. “To take something that’s like a piece of rubble… and bring it back to form.” He gets up to 10 repairs a week - everything from porcelain and furniture, to lamp repairs and fine art. Basically what he is given, he learns how to fix.

The man knows his work and through that, he’s getting to know the people of Matthews. He knows the customers who come in, like Jim who shops for Grateful Dead albums, and Aana Lisa, who uses Jack for all of her restorations. He knows about her home (the one that was recently moved across Fullwood) and her history in town. He laughs, clearly proud of the connections he’s made, “See? I’m learning!” It’s that ability to find friendships in the community that makes Jack Marble Jr.'s Precious Restorations so very Matthews.

Photo by Charles Lybrand

ZABS Place: A Matthews Business Worth Celebrating

ZABS is the acronym of the Hebrew name of Zachary Shporer - Zecharya Avraham Boruch Shporer. A happy, athletic, positive, take-over-the-world (in a good way) teen. He was awesome to be around. His friends and family loved him. His teachers raved about him. He was passionate about helping others, especially children and teens with special needs. At 18, he was diagnosed with Leukemia. He died one year later.

Photo courtesy ZABS Place

This month, ZABS Place, located on the corner of South Trade and East John Streets, will celebrate its fourth anniversary of business. ZABS is an upscale thrift boutique and employment training center for young adults with special needs. It is one of the very few nonprofits in the country solely created to provide on-the-job training for “special talent” kids after graduating from high school. It will soon make its national mark after an NBC “Today Show” segment airs on national TV.

“I wanted a place where our young adults could work,” said co-founder Caren Gale. “It wasn’t fair that my daughter, who is neuro-typical, could graduate and go off and have an option. Why couldn’t our (other) kid have an option?”

“I asked my son what he wanted to do when he graduated, and he said, ‘work,’” she said. “Yet, I knew if he went out in the work world (and interviewed for a job), they wouldn’t ‘get’ him.”

ZABS story began six years ago when California to Charlotte transplants, Caren and Charlie Gale, could not find options for their (special needs) son, Jonathan, after he graduated from high school. At about the same time, Rabbi Bentzion and Rochel Groner, Directors of Charlotte’s Friendship Circle, were also discussing this same dilemma befalling many members of their group.

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

Enter Lisa Shporer and her husband now coping with the death of their 19-year-old son, Zachary Shporer, a volunteer with Friendship Circle who died of leukemia in 2012. The Groners asked the Shporers what they might do to help. A request to use Zachary’s name, in memory, led them to the creation of “ZABS Place.”

In a sit-down with Caren, Community Liason Lisa Shporer and ZABS Directors Rochel and Rabbi Bentzion Groner, the group exchanged thoughts on where they’ve been and where they are going.

“We had a desperate need (for) individuals to do something after high school,” said Bentzion. “We wanted the world to come and engage with our kids and help harness the energy and potential to have them connect with the community.”

The Shporers wanted to honor their son and honor the employees and the nonprofit’s mission.  “If we published Zachary’s name on it, we had to live up to his good name,” said Lisa.

“Within these four walls, this is Zachary’s home – we work hard not to have negative or critical thoughts,” Bentzion added.

Their intention was to meet these children, individually, and head-on, to help them achieve their dreams and gain life skills. Called “special talent kids,” they are guided, lovingly, through a series of individualized stages to achieve success.

“These children are as individual as snowflakes. How do we reach that child? It’s incumbent upon us that we find the lock (and key).”

— Caren Gale

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

“These children are as individual as snowflakes,” said Caren. “How do we reach that child? It’s incumbent upon us that we find the lock (and key).”

Currently, the store employs/works with approximately 50 people between the ages of 18 and 35 (although there are a few younger and older talent); most are paid for their work. The store also employs six support staff including two job coaches. Approximately 50 people remain on a wait-list.

After undergoing an extensive application process, they are assessed to ensure a good fit for the store. Although the interview may not always result in a job, the group still sees the process as beneficial. “We get to learn about the kids,” said Bentzion, adding that the interview process is a great experience for the kids.

Once chosen, talent are offered work options ranging from three-month internships to approximately two year+ jobs. They are offered an array of opportunities ranging from arranging an area to assessing if inventory is stocked; from customer service to pricing. There is an IT crew handling some aspects of business – writing descriptions of merchandise to packaging and mailing it out.

To assist them in their tasks, all talent are given a three-week training period. After individual needs are assessed, they are offered whatever means are needed to help them complete their designated task(s). Individual job coaches help prepare guides, task sheets and fun lists with images and/or words. Descriptions are broken down into discreet pieces. Since they earn a wage, talents also learn the value of working and of earning money. “You save money for options in your life,” said Caren.

At every stage is the group’s desire to cater to each individual’s needs. “We take a look at what their interests are, we meet with them; we ask every single applicant what they want to be when they grow up...As long as we believe in our kids, we believe anything is possible,” said Bentzion.

“I think we’ve given hope to many families and we’ve given an opportunity to so many young kids - young adults who might not have had that opportunity…who may have graduated from high school and retreated to their room, retreated to their screens and now those kids are a part of that community,” said Caren. “They are working, they are interacting with the public and the public is being educated on the potential of our young adults and what they can do.”

The group points proudly to the fact that although they could capitalize on the heavy traffic the next door (Saturday) Farmer’s Market might bring, as Orthodox Jews, the store is closed on that day for the Sabbath. “We have a sign that says it’s the Sabbath….see you on Sunday, we’re open from 12-6,” said Lisa.

Photo by Cyma Shapiro

Despite normal business growing pains, ZABS is flourishing – with increasing sales, number of talent working there, and numbers of employees on-staff.  In the near future, the group is hoping to open another ZABS place somewhere in Charlotte.

“This is very organic; we’re always refining (how to grow and change methodology),” said Caren. Unanimously, the group said its goal is to continue hiring more talent and, in turn, interest Charlotte area businesses to hire their now-seasoned employees.

In every way, the group feels the impact of hope.  

“The dread you feel once your child is diagnosed - it’s so overwhelming,” said Caren. “You have no idea of the trajectory of your child, what the options will be and to know that (there are places like this), you think, as a parent that maybe there is hope.”

In the end, it’s in ZABS’ name that the store seems to find its purpose and place.

“The store was named after my son, Zachary,” said Lisa. “To me, it’s honoring his memory every day…..I have to remember why we are here - it’s so Zachary would be proud. Everything we do is so uplifting and so kind, and so much fun….Everyone who works here…wants to be here.”

She added, “We don’t call our workers employees, we call them trainees – they’re here, they are learning skills, they are learning abilities to be able to move on to whatever their dream is. We look at them as talent. Who looks at their employees as talent? They (usually) look at them as ‘worker bees’ that they pay.”

“(In Matthews) We look at it like we’re on the corner of ‘Main and Main.’ I think that we’re a jewel in the crown of Matthews,” she said. “I really believe that after being here for four years….it’s just like an amazing opportunity for people to come in (and see us).”

“That concept is (why) we are so unique…We have totally disrupted how people think of the special needs population,” Lisa said. “It brings people in over and over and over again…because they want to support us. When people come in here, it’s a happy place, it’s clean, it’s neat, it’s organized…..it’s a place that needs to be celebrated.”

ZABS Place * 100 N. Trade Street * Matthews

Sun: 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Mon – Thu: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Fri: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Morning Minute: October 17, 2018

News About Town: Thanks to Hurricane Michael (and Florence before) Republic Services is still behind with yard waste pick-up. Please be patient as they catch up with the overwhelming amount of compostables they’re collecting. Once again Public Works will assist in the collection. Make sure you follow the rules for easy collection: Leaves and grass clippings must be bagged in clear bags (tied) or other bags (left open) so the driver can see the contents. Branches and limbs smaller than five-inches diameter must be cut into lengths shorter than four feet and stacked in small piles. Please don’t leave yard debris in the gutter or street.

News Around Town: Mattress Firm, the largest specialty mattress retailer in the US, filed for bankruptcy protection last week and announced it is closing 700 stores nationwide. The retailer will close over 200 stores immediately, including two stores in Matthews. The company wasted no time and began moving product out of stores over the weekend. Two stores in Matthews will close: one near Harris Teeter (1834 Matthews Township Parkway) and another beside the now-vacant HH Gregg Store in the Windsor Square shopping center (9901 E. Independence Boulevard).

Photo courtesy Carolina Shows

One Good (and Fun) Thing: Matthews-based Carolina Shows produces Christmas Made in the South every October. In conjunction with our interview, they’ve offered 2 pairs of tickets for a giveaway for our readers! Want to enter? Comment below or on our Facebook post. We’ll draw a winner Thursday!