Bluegrass Hemp Oil, a family-owned CBD product company, has moved its retail store from northeast Spokane to Spokane Valley.

The company, with a staff of three employees, had planned to host a grand opening today, March 12, at its new store, which occupies 975 square feet of leased space in the Cedar Tree Plaza shopping center, at 101 N. Argonne.

However, acting on the advice of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, amid concerns regarding the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, the company tentatively has rescheduled the event for early May.

Despite the postponement, Bluegrass regional manager Jessica Charles says the company hasn’t seen any drop in sales amid recent health concerns.

Bluegrass Hemp Oil is a subsidiary of Kentucky Cannabis Co., based in Lexington, Kentucky. The company was founded by Bill Polyniak and Dave Hendrick. Bluegrass Hemp operates three retail CBD stores; two are located in Kentucky and the other in Spokane.

Hours of operation here are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday and Friday and 9 a.m-5 p.m. Saturday.

Cannabidiol, known better as CBD, is one of more than 100 chemical compounds known as cannabinoids found in the marijuana plant.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive cannabinoid found in marijuana. Unlike THC, however, CBD isn’t psychoactive, or mind altering.

“Bill’s brother, Tom Polyniak, recently lived in Spokane and saw there was a need for the kind of quality CBD the company produces,” she says.

Charles says what makes the company unlike most she has seen is that Kentucky Cannabis does the actual growing, processing, and production of hemp oil.

“Because the company is fully integrated in that regard, we’ve become recognized for creating consistent profiles, and that matters a lot in cannabis,” she says.

The company’s producers grow only those varieties known for high amounts of cannabinoids and appropriate corresponding terpenes. Extraction is done only from the bloom, which means the CBD comes from the richest part of the plant, she says.

Kentucky Cannabis introduced cannabidiol to Kentucky in 2013 when Polyniak advocated for the legalization of hemp for his son, Colten, who was diagnosed with idiopathic generalized epilepsy.

With the passing of a state bill, and the Federal Farm Bill of 24, Kentucky Cannabis was approved as one of six companies to cultivate hemp legally there. The company also participated in the lobbying effort in Washington state to legalize cannabis, Charles says.