“Everyone who comes in leaves happier,” Donald Ince, owner of the Manhattan CBD American Shaman, said.
The business came to Manhattan in October 2017. Once they opened, members of the community steadily arrived, Ince said.
“I think it’s impacting the town in a positive light,” Brad Benco, American Shaman employee, said.
Benco said many students would come in during finals week seeking a way to help study because American Shaman provides a “shot” of CBD oil in water for students who struggle with focusing. CBD stands for cannabidiol, a substance found in cannabis plants.
Students are not the only ones who benefit from the reliefs that CBD oil may provide. Arlene, American Shaman customer, said she shops at the Manhattan location because she struggles with the way her pain medication affects her.
“I get sick from my pain pills,” Arlene said.
Arlene has multiple diagnoses, and she said the CBD oil allows for her pain to be manageable while still having the ability to function in everyday life.
She is also one of the various individuals who travel from outside of Manhattan to visit the American Shaman location seeking relief through CBD oil.
CBD oil can do help to reduce pain, stress and anxiety, Ince said, but there is still a stigma that surrounds the image of the marijuana leaf.
Benco said this is true, but he thinks that American Shaman has helped the stigma disappear.
“It’s kinda helping to clear the stigma or the taboo that’s still attached to that leaf,” Benco said.
Benco said he thinks the stigma of CBD oil has been decreasing over time, but there is still a long way to go.
CBD oil is not the only thing from the marijuana plant that helps individuals, Benco said. There is a whole variety of different types of CBD, and with medical marijuana, very low doses of THC help many individuals without the psychedelic effects of a recreational dosage of marijuana.
On Wednesday, the Kansas House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow for fewer limitations on the research of cultivation of industrial hemp.
CBD American Shaman decided to celebrate the passage of the bill with a 20 percent off sale, calling it their “Kansas Appreciation Sale.”
Ince and Benco both agreed that the passage of the bill is a step in the right direction towards the cultivation of industrial hemp.
Ince also said Kansas legislators had proposed another bill “that [would] at least allow us to have the 0.3 percent [of THC] that’s naturally in hemp.”
The 0.3 percent of THC that naturally occurs in hemp is federally legal, but not in Kansas. This legislation hinders the sale of CBD products to Kansas because the 0.3 percent must be removed before the sale of CBD products, Benco said.
Ince said for the bill to become effective someday, it would allow CBD American Shaman to sell full-spectrum CBD hemp products in the Manhattan location.
“They have to make a whole separate product line for Kansas to remove that 0.3 percent, which we all know that won’t get you high,” Benco said.
Ince commented on Benco’s statement, saying the 0.3 percent THC does allow for the CBD to have a stronger effect.
CBD American Shaman’s Manhattan location allows for individuals in the community and beyond to see what CBD oils can do to help people, and maybe remove the stigma that surrounds industrial hemp, both Ince and Benco said.
