Kennewick marijuana retailer wants to professionalize the CBD industry

Steve Lee is probably the only small business owner in the

Tri-Cities who isn’t complaining about government regulation. 

Well, he’s not complaining about the rules governing his newest

venture, Green2Go Wellness, the CBD retail and delivery business he

opened in the former Franz Bakery Outlet, 419 W. Columbia

Drive, in December. 

That’s because Lee and his wife, Jessie, also operate

Green2Go Recreational, a legal cannabis retailer with stores in Finley

and Tokio. The cannabis business operates under Washington’s exacting

rules for marijuana sales. 

Green2Go Wellness sells products derived from cannabidiol. CBD is

derived from hemp, a member of the cannabis family that is low in THC, the

primary psychoactive element of marijuana. It isn’t regulated under Initiative

502, the voter-approved initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in

2012 

 And since marijuana remains illegal under federal law, owners of

“I-502” shops like the Lees face a host of regulatory burdens that non-502

businesses do not.  

Their product is tracked from seed to store. Business expenses

aren’t deductible on federal tax returns. Advertising is a

challenge, as is banking. Most nonprofits shy away from marijuana-related

donations. 

Green2Go Wellness doesn’t fall under I-502, so it enjoys

the same benefits as any other business. Rent and other

expenses are tax deductible. Nonprofits welcome its donations. 

It can buy ads and sponsor a Little League team. The store hasn’t yet

sponsored a team, but only because no one has asked.  

Lee relishes the difference.

“Owning a business outside of cannabis is mind-blowing,” he

said.  “This is the first time we’ve had a regular business where we

can just be a regular business.” 

The love child of glass and pot 

Lee called Green2Go Wellness the love child

of the cannabis retail shops and his related

venture, Prohibition Glass, which sells cannabis-related art glass in

downtown. 

The former began as a medical marijuana business and evolved into

Green2Go Recreational when voters legalized pot.  

The latter is the glass shop the Lees opened next to their

Finley store to sell bongs and related paraphernalia.  

Lee and his wife, Jessie, are longtime collectors of marijuana-related

glass. Lee said buying glass is how he’s celebrated milestones. The business

sells art glass, as well as glass produced by local glass blowers. 

Prohibition Glass takes its name from marijuana’s legal history.

Collectors were reluctant to buy marijuana-related glass because it was treated

as illegal drug paraphernalia. Lee anticipates a day when marijuana is

legal at the federal level and glass produced before then is classified as

“prohibition era” glass.

The glass business eventually moved into a food truck the

Lees inherited from Gourmet Grub Bus, a business they’d invested in that shut

down. 

The Gourmet Grub Bus truck was rebranded with a Prohibition Glass wrap

and parked outside Green2Go. The couple added CBD products to the

lineup.  

Washington law generally prohibits CBD products in actual

cannabis stores, but Lee viewed the parking lot as fair

game. CBD sales took off and accounted for 80 percent of the truck’s

revenue. 

That prompted Lee to consider the potential of a retail business

focused on CBD, customer service and education. 

There’s demand for CBD products in the Tri-Cities, but

supply can be spotty.  

There are one-brand shops and the occasional shelf at a bodega or

grocery, but few if any places that offer customers either choices or

education, Lee said.

 Opportunity knocks 

 When Franz Bakery vacated its 9,000-square-foot

facility on Columbia Drive in downtown Kennewick, Lee jumped at the

opportunity. 

The space includes a small retail store, a massive

warehouse and room for other businesses. 

Green2Go Wellness sells five lines of CBD products and has room

for a classroom to legally demonstrate uses for both CBD products and

marijuana, with legal hemp flowers standing in for marijuana.  

Prohibition Glass moved into a neighboring space and

is being outfitted as an arts-oriented speak-easy. Lee hopes to host

events in the space, which he said honors the area’s new designation as an arts

district. 

Lee, who is Kennewick’s mayor pro tem, notes the council just

established the arts district in the downtown area. 

His goal with Green2Go Wellness is similar to his goal in Finley:

Establish a clean, well-lit business that appeals to ordinary

people.  

“Your grandmother’s CBD shop” is the tagline.  

If you drew a Venn diagram of bake shop customers and CBD

customers, the circles would overlap, Lee joked. 

 “They’re identical,” he said. 

 State-licensed

consultants 

 While CBD products are largely unregulated, it is against federal

law to tout medical benefits, a rule that’s widely ignored. 

 “Imagine being a car dealer and you can’t talk about how the car

works,” he said. 

Green2Go Wellness found a workaround in Washington laws

governing marijuana sales.  

The state allows marijuana retail employees to become

licensed medical consultants if they pass a test. 

Once licensed, they’re free to discuss the products and how they

work. 

The four-plus employees at Green2Go Wellness

are state-licensed consultants. 

Lee believes it’s the first time the license program created

under the I-502 rules has been used to support a CBD business. 

The Washington CannaBusiness Association, which advocates for the legal

marijuana industry, said it is pushing legislation to allow CBD products in

regulated marijuana stores in the 2020 session. 

Lee borrowed another concept from the regulated marijuana

side. 

Businesses that fall under I-502 track cannabis from seed to

sale. 

CBD isn’t subject to that level of scrutiny, but Lee is applying

the same wholistic view to the products he sells at Green2Go

Wellness. 

It sources products from five vetted providers that

submit samples for independent testing for heavy metals and

other contaminants. Eventually, he’d like to offer about 250 individual

products. 

He said he would discard brands if he believed they’re

contaminated for some reason. 

“We are fanatical about how our product is made and that it’s safe for

the public,” he said. 

The one challenge is money, literally. 

Credit card processors consider CBD too close to marijuana to handle.

Green2Go Wellness, like its marijuana counterpart, is an all cash business. The

Lees created an ATM business so customers can get the cash they need to make

purchases. 

The modest store on Columbia Drive is the first of what Lee hopes will

become a regionwide network of Green2Go Wellness branded CBD kiosks

in compatible businesses, such as licensed massage partners. The Lees

hold federal trademarks for both “Green2Go” and “Prohibition Glass.”

Green2Go Wellness also offers home delivery – harkening back

to the early days of Green2Go, when Lee sold medical marijuana and

delivered products to patients.  

Lee said he’s excited to return to his roots, focusing on distribution

and logistics. 

The former Franz bakery warehouse will serve as a distribution hub.

Zoning could allow for light hemp processing as well, he said. 

Follow Green2Go Wellness

on Facebook @g2gwellness.