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NEW SHOP IS TURNING HEADS

A new shop in downtown Brighton is turning heads because it offers some things - K2 incense and hookahs - that some folks have probably never heard of. 

K2, which is legal, is a brand of an incense causing controversy because some people are smoking it and getting high.  A hookah is a large water pipe traditionally used in Middle Eastern cultures for smoking a sweet tobacco.  Both items, along with a wide variety of small pipes, water pipes, scales, grinders and tobacco, can be purchased at The Haven, which opened Aug.  7 at 134 W.  Main St. 

Owner Ryan McDonell said he hopes Livingston County residents "don't freak out" when they stop by his storefront. 

He recalled an older couple who recently stopped in front and referred to the hookah as "one of those marijuana pipes."

Although his shop will be selling items that people can use to smoke medical marijuana, Mc-Donell said he has no plans to become a medical marijuana dispenser. 

"We support medical marijuana and offer discounts to medical marijuana patients and caregivers," he said. 

He said business has been good, and all different age groups have been stopping in.  He says he strictly enforces a rule that customers must be 18 or older to enter. 

McDonell said he will be switching his K2 incense to another brand, LOL, and it's sold strictly as an incense.  When asked about people smoking it and getting a sensation similar to smoking marijuana, he said, "I've heard rumors that people do."

Local doctors said young people are smoking K2 incense and others similar to K2. 

Dr.  Mark Menestrina, addiction medical specialist and director of the detox unit at Brighton Hospital, said the hospital has treated young people who are smoking this form of incense as a hallucinogen. 

"Some people say it's even more potent than pot," Menestrina said. 

He said the incense is legal because it's been sprayed with or contains a synthetic chemical very similar to the drug found in marijuana.  For a drug to be illegal, Menestrina said there needs to be a law stating that substance is illegal.  With a designer drugs, he said someone takes an illegal drug and modifies it "just a little bit," thereby creating something that is not illegal under the letter of the law. 

McDonell said he picked Brighton to open his second shop because "it seemed like a cool city."

He and his wife, Sandy, own a similar shop in Lansing, and are looking to possibly open a third shop this summer. 

He said the city has a good local economy and has lots of festivals with bands and car shows. 

McDonell said he tinted his windows in recognition of the "family environment" in Brighton. 

"I don't want kids looking in the windows and seeing something out of the ordinary," he said. 

His Lansing shop sells adult videos, but McDonell said he won't be selling adult videos in Brighton.  He does plan to carry some adult games, novelties, and T-shirts but "nothing too crazy." He plans to start selling cigars and is looking at possibly opening a hookah lounge. 

A hookah is an Arabic water pipe filled with flavored tobacco.  Michigan's new smoking ban outlaws hookahs in stores that sell food, but allows them in specialty tobacco shops. 

Sharon Kisak, owner of the popular Yum Yum Tree restaurant and ice cream shop, doesn't have a problem with The Haven moving in next door to her place. 

"Everything they have is legal," Kisak said. 

Although she hasn't' been in the store, she said residents who have stopped by the Haven stated it's very nice. 

Kisak said there are still a lot of people who still smoke, and the store provides a less expensive alternative by allowing people to rolling their own cigarettes. 

"I figure everybody has their own little niche," Kisak said. 

The Haven isn't the first shop in Livingston Count selling unique items. 

The Dream Factory Boutique, located in Green Oak Township, has been operating for 25 years, according to owner Bruce Clute. 

Clute said his shop sells pipes, adult videos, adult sex toys, incense and K2 incense.