A brand new hemp shop has opened in Canberra, but locals have been warned that the store isn’t selling anything smokable.
Canberra’s new store, South Pacific Hemp, opened on Tuesday this week. It is located on Wollongong Street, Fyshwick. The store will sell a range of hemp foods, including hemp seed oil, baby clothes, homewares, bags, bed linen, cushions, beauty balms, and pet products. It will not sell marijuana or any smokable products, as the sale of cannabis remains illegal in the ACT (despite the state decriminalising cannabis in 2020).
The store will be run by Darren Steinhardt and Brett Walker. They also run the business next door – South Pacific Hydroponics. Over the past few years, they’ve seen Australia’s hemp industry go from bud to bloom, and they expect it will soon flower. According to Darren, Canberra is the perfect place for a hemp shop, as locals are already educated about sustainability.
Although hemp and marijuana are both types of cannabis, there are differences between the two. Australian hemp is not psychoactive, as it contains less than 1% THC. Marijuana, on the other hand, contains larger amounts of THC and can be psychoactive.
In 2021, Australians are finally starting to accept hemp items into their homes – despite hemp’s controversial relationship with cannabis. Since changes to the Food Standards Code were made in 2017, hemp is now legally sold as a food product. It is also used in beauty products, paper production, clothes, furniture, linen and even the building material ‘hempcrete’.
According to a comment made by Darren, hemp is also a low-waste material with a big future.
You can use the whole plant. From one plant, we could get four products for the shop and we’ve just got to get that across.
His new hemp store will be open from 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday to Friday, and 10 am to 3 pm on Saturdays.
