City Council bill would crack down on unregulated smoke shops, citing Inquirer report

A Philadelphia lawmaker plans to ramp up the city’s war on stores peddling unregulated recreational drugs, citing recent reports from The Inquirer about the hidden dangers of both hemp-derived THC and kratom products.

City Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson on Thursday introduced a legislative package that seeks to toughen enforcement on smoke shops and other so-called nuisance businesses.

Richardson has spent years battling fly-by-night operations that have proliferated across the city. These shops often apply for licenses as “convenience stores” but then primarily sell unregulated drug products that are rife with toxic and illicit chemicals, or paraphernalia.

According to the Council member, the stores also frequently violate other city codes and attract “crime and drug activity.”

“The lack of regulation around these substances is a threat to health and public safety,” Richardson said in a statement Thursday. “Not only is the consumer unaware of the potency and contents of the product, but, as recently reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, these products often have toxic chemicals and other contaminants. Even worse, they appear to be marketed toward our young people.”

The new set of bills would close “loopholes” that Richardson’s office says operators are using to evade enforcement.

One bill targets owners who seek to wipe away their past infractions by transferring store ownership to new shell companies. This tactic has been used by store owners to evade accountability when the city has sought to fine and shutter them for code violations.

Under Richardson’s proposed legislation, any entity with another “substantially similar business in ownership” or operation would be liable for its past citations.

A second bill focuses on removing provisions in city regulations that required police to enforce certain code violations that were regarded as summary offenses. Philadelphia Deputy Police Commissioner Fran Healy testified in a spring hearing on nuisance businesses that these existing regulations are outmoded and complicate enforcement for civil violations.

Richardson said this week that eliminating these provisions would make it easier to issue stop-work and cease-operations orders.

Finally, Richardson introduced a companion resolution that calls for Council’s Committee on Commerce and Economic Development to hold hearings into the sale of “unregulated substances,” citing two recent Inquirer investigations.

The first tested unregulated and allegedly legal “hemp” products sold at many smoke shops, finding the vast majority were, in fact, illicit and contaminated with toxins. A follow-up report detailed rising rates of addiction linked to “7-OH,” an opioid-like concentrate of kratom, a naturally grown plant that is sold as an herbal supplement at smoke shops and gas stations throughout the region.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania’s Wild West of unregulated weed

“These unregulated substances are causing harm in our communities, endangering public health and safety,” reads a preamble to the resolution. “Many local business owners do not even know the dangerous nature of these products.”

The introduction of the legislation, which was co-introduced by Republican Brian J. O’Neill, was met with applause. The call for hearings was approved later in the same session.

“We hope to use this hearing to inform a future bill addressing the surge of these dangerous products devastating our communities,” Richardson said, asked about the likelihood of a local ban.