Oct 14, 2010In the same year the state banned smoking in restaurants and bars, a boom in tobacco shop openings in Jacksonville has some scratching their heads.
According to Jacksonville business license specialist Lee Humphrey, six businesses with "tobacco" in the name have opened already this year - two in the last week. About the same number opened between 1983 and 2009, according to city records.
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A search of new corporations in the N.C. Secretary of State database shows no similar trend in other towns in the state.
Eddie Atalla, owner of the Tobacco Country USA cigar shop chain in Jacksonville, which opened in 1998, said the number of new openings he has observed this year is closer to 20.
And he believes he knows why.
"There aren't any new smoking customers. Smoking is on the decline," Atalla said. "Their profit is not coming from selling cigarettes but comes from selling other things that bring in a huge profit, such as spice, K2, salvia, etcetera."
Spice and its affiliates are synthetic cannabinoid compounds marketed as potpourri or incense and sold by the gram. When smoked, they can produce a "high" experience similar to that of smoking marijuana. And since the substances are unregulated in the state and leave no trace on urinalysis drug tests, they have rapidly gained popularity among young military populations, especially in the Marine Corps.
Earlier this year, the Corps banned Marines from using, possessing or purchasing spice or any similar products. In March, Camp Lejeune sent out a letter to area tobacco shops asking them to refrain from selling the substances to Marines and sailors.
Maj. Bradley Gordon, a spokesman for Camp Lejeune public affairs, said that no Jacksonville tobacco businesses to date had been placed on an "off limits" list by the base.
"We appreciate the continued support that we receive from community businesses," he said in a statement. "Reaching out for help and support from the community exemplifies our unity in combating the use and distribution of designer drugs in our region."
Atalla said he decided his shop would never carry spice as soon as he discovered what its uses were.
"We had several customers on a daily basis come into our stores asking for that product," he said. "I investigated the product and found it to be like a drug, basically. To stop the flow of customers, we posted a sign on all our doors saying, 'We do not sell spice; do not come in.' You will find that any reputable tobacco shop will not carry the stuff."
Atalla said he believed that responsible tobacco purveyors should work to ban the product statewide.
Brenda Lanham, of Jacksonville, said she opened her Tobacco & More shop at 211 Western Blvd. on March 1. She said a brisk economy and a population interested in new products such as smokeless cigarettes signaled to her that conditions were right to start her business.
"It just looked like a good time to take it and run," she said.
Lanham said she carries a variety of spice products, which sells at a rate similar to her other products. And she doesn't attempt to refuse sale of spice to Marines.
"If their command has an issue, that's an issue for them not for us," she said. "What they do with it when they go out the door is on them."
Max Ali, manager of Tobacco for Less, located at 439 Western Blvd., which opens Friday, said a growing town was the reason for opening another store. The Jacksonville owners already run a handful of local convenience stores and tobacco shops.
Ali said the shop would probably carry spice, "because everyone in Jacksonville is selling spice," but the store would carefully follow all state regulations.
"If they ban spice, I will be the first to take it out of my store," he said.
Of the six new tobacco shops visited by The Daily News, all carried spice.
N.C. Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, plans to introduce a bill doing just that when the house enters its next session in February.
Cleveland said he believes spice is a driving factor in the tobacco shop boom, but any economic boons were offset by the product's negative effects.
"It's harmful to our kids," he said. "As long as it is harmful to our kids, it shouldn't be sold. I would think that people who make money off of it would have a problem with their morals and their character."
Atalla believes that spice as a legal product is living on borrowed time. And when it's banned, he said, most of the new tobacco shops in town will disappear as quickly as they arrived. Enditem
