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“Many vape shops are just de facto marijuana shops at this point,” Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.

As Richmond steps up efforts against vape shops, Edwards said his department has identified at least 87 such businesses across the city. “We have more vape shops than probably any other store in our city,” he said. “The majority of them are involved in the distribution of marijuana or other THC products.”

New rules passed in July effectively bar most new vape shops from opening within 1,000 feet of a residential area, school, park, public library, church, child day center or another vape store. The ordinance went into effect July 28, but it doesn’t affect shops already operating or those that had a certificate of occupancy or zoning compliance at that time.

Planning Director Kevin Vonck explained how many existing businesses remain protected: “Once the use has been established, the use can be grandfathered.” The one exception is if a business in a newly prohibited area stops operating as a vape shop for two years; then owners would need to reapply for zoning or occupancy and would be subject to the current limits.

That makes it difficult to shutter shops permanently even when illegal activity has occurred. “When we do coordinated enforcement, we often do find building code violations, health code violations” or delinquent taxes, Vonck said. “But those elements are not in and of themselves enough to stop the use.”

Crime hotspots

Officials say vape shops are a concern not only because many market to youth but because they have become crime hotspots. Richmond has seen a 15% increase in commercial robberies compared with 2024, and Edwards said a third of those incidents have occurred at vape shops. Many robberies are “takedown”-style operations carried out by armed suspects, he said.

Surveillance footage has captured recent robberies at vape stores. Edwards warned the risk of shootings is high: in 88% of robberies at these businesses, robbers have displayed firearms. Cashiers, aware of the threat, are increasingly arming themselves.

Raids on 10 city vape shops recovered 10 guns and about 75 pounds of marijuana or THC products, including candy- and snack-style items with names that echo familiar brands—Reefer’s instead of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Cheetos Puffs, Stoney Patch Kids and more. “Many vape shops are just de facto marijuana shops at this point,” Edwards said.

Because marijuana sales remain illegal in Virginia, those shops that sell it do so in cash, making them attractive targets for robbers. Edwards noted there are likely more stores operating under the radar: “We executed a search warrant recently on a shop that looked like a home from the outside. Now they actually had a business license, but there was no signage, there was nothing. And we got a tip from the community and went in there and it was just marijuana sales.”

Councilor Reva Trammell, representing the 8th District in the Southside, said she sees new vape shops opening frequently. Councilor Sarah Abubaker (4th District) called them “a scourge on the city and the region in general.”

Frustration for police and the Planning Department comes from the ease with which many shops can reopen after enforcement. Locations without a certificate of occupancy or business license have sometimes been shut down, but those with the paperwork often resume operations.

City officials are now exploring other tools in Richmond city code related to drug blight, nuisances and accidental discharges of firearms to deter bad actors. Councilor Stephanie Lynch suggested using taxation to limit vape shops—“let’s tax them 5,000%,” she said—but localities are currently barred from imposing taxes beyond Virginia’s 11 cents per milliliter rate. A bill that would have allowed local tax authority failed in this year’s General Assembly.

“If you all have ideas, we are in the process of formulating our legislative agenda” for the 2026 session, Lynch told Vonck and Edwards.

How the General Assembly will respond is uncertain as the election next Tuesday approaches. “I think some people are waiting on the sidelines until the election next week to see which direction the commonwealth goes as far as legalization,” Edwards said. “I think that’ll determine what needs to happen next year.”

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Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org.

Tuscola County, Mich. — Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Morrone and Tuscola County Sheriff Ryan Robinson are warning residents about the risks of kratom and its potent alkaloid, 7-hydroxymitragynine.

Kratom is an herbal product widely sold online, in smoke shops and at gas stations, and is marketed as a “natural alternative” for chronic pain and opioid withdrawal. It has no FDA-approved uses and may not be marketed as a dietary supplement.

Officials say poison control centers are receiving more calls related to kratom. The plant contains the alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH). At low doses, mitragynine acts like a stimulant and can cause anxiety and agitation. At higher doses, it produces opioid-like effects and — according to the officials — can be 13 times more potent than morphine. 7-OH is reported to be about 10 times more potent than mitragynine. Other symptoms tied to kratom exposure include palpitations, seizures, nausea and abdominal pain.

Morrone and Robinson recommend administering naloxone to reverse respiratory depression in suspected kratom overdoses, and they urge anyone experiencing or handling kratom cases to report them to Poison Control Centers.

Regular kratom use can lead to an opioid-like withdrawal syndrome, liver toxicity, seizures, dependence and neonatal abstinence syndrome.

To report a suspected case or for questions, call your local poison center at 1-800-222-1222. For more information from the FDA on kratom risks, visit fda.gov/news-events.

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Kentucky governor pushes to classify kratom as a Schedule I narcotic

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Beshear moves to classify a form of kratom as a Schedule I narcotic in Kentucky

7‑OH, often called “gas station heroin,” has been responsible for several overdose deaths in the Commonwealth and nationwide.

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This article was adapted from an original report published on whas11.com. All rights belong to the original publisher.

Three arrested after Baltimore smoke shop raids uncover illegal drug sales, WBFF reports

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KT&G reported a record third quarter, with revenue rising 11.6% year‑on‑year to KRW 1.83 trillion ($1.3 billion) and operating profit climbing 11.4% to KRW 465.3 billion ($321 million) — its strongest operating result in five years. The company said a 24.9% jump in global cigarette sales powered the gains, while domestic sales and next‑generation products remained solid.

In response to the performance, KT&G raised its full‑year revenue and profit outlook to target double‑digit growth and reaffirmed its shareholder return plans: a minimum dividend of KRW 6,000 ($4.14) per share and KRW 260 billion ($179 million) in stock buybacks. The company also remains on track to expand its nicotine pouch business through a planned joint acquisition of Another Snus Factory with Altria by year‑end.

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This article was adapted from an original report published on tobaccoreporter.com. All rights belong to the original publisher.

Australia’s illegal tobacco trade has cost the government A$3.3 billion ($2.1 billion) in excise revenue, with organized crime controlling much of the market, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) said in a report on November 6. The ACIC found that about one in five cigarettes sold in Australia is illicit, driven in part by high legal prices that push consumers toward cheaper alternatives.

When healthcare and productivity losses are included, the broader cost rises to A$4 billion ($2.6 billion) a year. The report links at least three deaths and around 200 firebombings to so-called “tobacco wars.” The ACIC added that the A$4 billion figure is “almost certainly an underestimate,” noting it does not account for e-cigarettes and illegal vapes.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called for a federal review of excise rates in response to the findings, while Treasurer Jim Chalmers rejected calls to lower prices. The report places illicit tobacco within a wider organized-crime burden now estimated at A$82.3 billion ($53.5 billion), which also includes illegal vapes.

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TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) — Toledo City Council voted Wednesday to ban sales of synthetic kratom while allowing the natural leaf to continue to be sold.

The decision comes weeks after the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department issued a public health notice about kratom. The department warned that, although kratom is often marketed as a natural remedy for pain, anxiety or fatigue, it carries significant health risks and can act like an opioid. Products that include kratom may claim to produce a “natural high” or be marketed as an “energy booster,” but those claims are misleading, the health department said.

Health experts have cautioned against kratom, linking it to serious health concerns. “It behaves an awful lot like an opioid. You can become addicted to it; it can create detrimental side effects, seizures, liver damage. People do become addicted. We have neonatal outcomes from this too; babies are born addicted to it,” Amy Brown, a Registered Environmental Health Specialist with the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, previously told 13 Action News.

Council member Sam Melden also voiced concern about how easily accessible kratom products are. “Most concerning, in my opinion, though, is not just what kratom can do to a user, but it is that it’s so easily available. These vape shops that are all over the community for it to have the word ‘kratom’ in the window advertising it, I don’t know what kind of safeguards are there. Who can go in and just buy that?” Melden previously told 13 Action News.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Gov. Andy Beshear announced Tuesday that his administration will classify 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) as a Schedule I narcotic, making it illegal in Kentucky to sell, possess or distribute any isolated or concentrated forms of the substance.

“We have marked three straight years of declines in overdose deaths in Kentucky, and that is progress we’re committed to building on as we work to protect more lives in the fight against addiction,” said Gov. Beshear. “Deadly and addictive drugs like 7-OH have no place in our communities, and this step will help us get these drugs off the streets and provide us more tools to keep Kentuckians safe.”

The decision comes as the state records declines in overdose deaths for a third consecutive year. 7-OH is a concentrated byproduct of the kratom plant that can bind to opioid receptors and has potential for abuse.

“When kratom is altered to create synthetic opioids, it becomes a threat to the public’s health,” said Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Dr. Steven Stack. “It puts people at risk and undermines the strides Kentucky has made in reducing the scourge of addiction.”

Although 7-OH occurs naturally in kratom, it appears only in very small amounts. Commercial products such as shots, powders or capsules can contain concentrated, potentially dangerous levels of the substance and have been sold over the counter.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services is updating regulations to designate isolated and concentrated forms of 7-OH as Schedule I substances — the same category as heroin, LSD and fentanyl analogs. Once finalized, law enforcement and regulatory agencies will be able to immediately begin removing these products from retail shelves statewide.

The move follows Beshear’s emergency designation in August that placed bromazolam on the Schedule I list, effectively banning the drug from being sold in Kentucky.

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