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When Sway opened last spring in Northalsted, its founders envisioned more than a cannabis dispensary—they hoped to build a safe, stigma-free space rooted in community and equity.
Kevin Hauswirth, who co-founded Sway with three other LGBTQ+ and cannabis activists, recalled an early community meeting about plans for the dispensary, where one neighbor “raised their hand and said how excited they were to have a place they could walk into and not worry about being misgendered, or about what they’re wearing that day.”
“That moment stuck with me, and I’m really proud that’s the space we’ve created,” Hauswirth said.
But Sway—the first queer-, Black- and Latinx-owned dispensary in Chicago—did not establish this reputation without facing major headwinds from what its owners described as an “unregulated” and “confusing” hemp market.
Sway opened under Illinois’ social equity cannabis licensing program. Its leaders—Hauswirth, Sidetrack owners Art Johnston and Jose “Pepe” Peña, and cannabis equity advocate Edie Moore—said they’ve invested heavily in customer service, staff training, security and compliance. But they argue their business has been undercut by storefronts and gas stations selling intoxicating hemp products that don’t face the same oversight.
“We are paying a huge premium to be a licensed dispensary,” Hauswirth said. “Part of our licensing fees is that we’re inspected by the state. We’re inspected by the police. We’re investing heavily on customer and community safety inside and outside of the dispensaries.”
But those who are growing and selling hemp benefit from “very complicated loopholes” that allow them to sell their products with less regulation and for a cheaper price than weed dispensaries, Moore said.
Moore said retailers are selling products that are chemically altered in labs to become intoxicating, marketing them as hemp.
“What it ultimately has become is this space where hemp retailers have been able to sell things and call it hemp, but it’s technically not,” Moore said.
As a result, consumers have often entered Sway and expressed confusion about the difference between their products and the hemp products available at other nearby stores.
The stakes are especially high for Sway as it prepares to open a second location in South Shore—an area saturated with smoke shops and misleading signs, Moore said.
“Folks thought, ‘Oh, don’t we already have one of those?’” Moore said. “But no, that’s not a dispensary.”
State Rep. LaShawn Ford has echoed these concerns in recent weeks, calling for what he called “common-sense regulation” of intoxicating hemp products.
“Unregulated hemp storefronts continue to operate without any oversight, putting public health at risk,” Ford said in a press release. “We must enact common-sense regulations for intoxicating hemp products to protect consumers and ensure a fair playing field for all cannabis businesses.”
Sway’s team supports Senate Bill 20, introduced by Sen. Lakesia Collins, which aims to regulate these products more closely.
“We want our legislators to act immediately this season to do something about it,” Moore said.
But leaders in the hemp industry argued they’re being scapegoated.
Charles Wu, executive director of the Illinois Hemp Business Association (IHBA), said many hemp retailers are minority-owned small businesses that support stricter oversight.
“We’ve been saying, regulate us. Tax us,” Wu said in an interview. “There’s nobody that’s responsible in the hemp industry that’s saying we don’t want regulations.”
Wu said the current narrative paints hemp stores unfairly by highlighting extreme bad actors.
“They find, like, the most awful offenders out there, and use that to try to portray… the entire hemp industry,” he said. “We could do the same thing [with cannabis], right?”
Most IHBA members already follow protocols around ID checks, safety testing and dosage transparency, Wu said.
He also pushed back on the idea that hemp retailers pose a threat to dispensaries, saying the conflict “is just business.”
Accessibility is a key reason many entrepreneurs have entered the hemp industry.
“While hemp had some challenges ahead… it actually gave an opportunity, not just for me, but for other small business owners and entrepreneurs,” Wu said. “In cannabis… you need $20 million to really take a good run at it.”
But Hauswirth and Moore emphasized that Sway’s concerns are about intoxicating products—not CBD or non-psychoactive goods.
“Make no mistake, we’re not against hemp,” Moore said. “What we’re opposed to is illegal, intoxicating and synthetic products that are masquerading.”
“}]] When Sway opened last spring in Northalsted, its founders envisioned more than a cannabis dispensary—they hoped to build a safe, stigma-free space rooted in community and equity. Kevin Hauswirth, who co-founded Sway with three other LGBTQ+ and cannabis activists, recalled an early community meeting about plans for the dispensary, where one neighbor “raised their hand Read More
