Joy Organics, a new cannabis medicine and hemp product store in Old Town, celebrated its grand opening July 21 with live music, CBD sampling, and catering by Jay’s Bistro. Rather than sell cannabis to just get high, the new store instead offers THC-free cannabis-based medicine and hemp goods.

The store aims to provide “medicine that works,” said store founder Joy Smith, for whom the business was named. 

Joy Smith smoked cannabis when she was younger, but after a short time it began to have negative effects. Only in May 2018 did she start using CBD for its medical effects for a shoulder injury.

“I don’t like THC now, it actually makes me anxious,” Smith said. “I didn’t want it in my products. I wanted to target children, people who want to test positive in their jobs, and so on, so we are completely THC free.”

Joy Organics provides a different environment for people who want to use cannabis medicine but do not like going to dispensaries.

“I wanted the opposite of a dispensary,” Smith said. “Really it feels awkward to go into a dispensary – maybe it’s my age.”

The store provides specialty forms of medication and hemp products, such as cannabis candles, cookie dough and various spices, such as blackening seasoning, that contain CBD. 

Joy Organics uses a special process to make their medicine more easily absorbed by the user and more easily infused into other products: nano-emulsion. Nano-emulsion is a patent-pending process created by Folium Biosciences, a Colorado Springs-based company. According to the store’s site, CBD oil products generally contain particles anywhere from about 150 to 5000 nanometers in size.

Joy Organics claims that this process reduces the size of the particulates in their products to 25 to 60 nanometers in size. 

“Our particulates are about a quarter the size of anything other product on the market,” Smith said. “This means they are more absorbable and bioavailable.”

Natalie Dunston, an intern at Joy Organics, said that nothing other than CBD works for her anxiety. Other medications did not work fully, she said, but after starting to use CBD just weeks ago, she claimed it is the first medication to stop her symptoms.

“THC creates more anxiety for me,” Dunston said. “CBD has been a calming influence in my daily life.”

Joy Organics is a family-run business, with Smith, her husband, her children and others taking part in one way or another in the establishment of the store.

The family is originally from Florida, but has had a home in the Poudre Canyon for a number of years. Todd Smith, Joy Smith’s husband, said that the family didn’t know much about Fort Collins before they first came to Colorado. Their son went to college at Colorado State University, which introduced them to the area. 

“Really we didn’t know about Fort Collins,” Todd Smith said. “It really is a hidden gem, I almost don’t want to tell anybody about it”

Joy Organics is located at 119 W. Oak Street, in the building formerly used by Apricot Lane Boutique. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, and from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Collegian reporter Erik Petrovich can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @EAPetrovich.