Theodore Lasher II stands in front of one of his display cases of hemp products at 3BUDS Dispensary LLC, 318 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming. Lasher and his partners, Hunter Smetana and Colby Kluk, will be opening a second location in Scranton in the near future.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
3BUDS co-owner Theodore Lasher II is busy stocking shelves at the Wyoming Avenue location. 3BUDS sells hemp products.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
3BUDS has an array of edible hemp products shown.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
WYOMING – Theodore Lasher II and business partners Hunter Smetana and Colby Kluk have opened 3BUDS Dispensary LLC, a medical hemp dispensary, on Wyoming Avenue, near the 8th Street corners.
The store sells medical hemp, CBD and Delta 8 hemp, which contains the THC, marijuana’s primary psychoactive ingredient, but is still legal in Pennsylvania.
“It all started when a bunch of us got together and said we need to provide this medicine to people since they are being provided stuff from the pharmaceutical companies that are addictive and harmful,” Lasher said. “I wanted to get out there; I suffered from it myself after playing football.”
Thirty-one-year-old Lasher excelled at football while at Wyoming Area before playing for three years at Lehigh University when concussions and back injuries set him back.
“When I got done playing football, I got put on opioids and I ended up getting addicted to them for two years,” Lasher admitted. “It ruin my reputation and a lot of bad things happened, and when it came to me getting off opioids, it was the medical cannabis that allowed me to transition off opioids.”
Getting into the cannabis business was something Lasher knew was a way to help many people with injuries and/or illness. Finding the right partners to get started was an easy decision.
According to Lasher, the business partnership was organic with his interest in the industry, Smetana being a computer tech expert and Kluk having strength in communications and networking.
All three partners are graduates of Wyoming Area and in fact, Lasher said, all employees of 3Buds are graduates of Wyoming Area and Wyoming Seminary.
“Between the three of us, it was a no-brainer,” Lasher admitted. “When my brother-in-law (Smetana) came back from Colorado and brought some of the raw hemp and said it was legal, I said we needed to get it to people and it just took off from there.”
When hemp was legalized under the 2018 U.S. farm bill, it didn’t take long for the trio to get their business in motion filing legally in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
“In March 2019, after hemp was legalized nationwide, we started an e-commerce business and started selling online,” Lasher said. “We started selling CBD and hemp-based products and as the market expanded, we continued.”
Lasher said cannabis not only helps him but helped a relative of his in great positive ways.
“I saw the miracle of what it (cannabis) could be, and I’ve seen the disgrace of the pharmaceutical industry could be,” Lasher stated.
3BUDS uses mainly Pennsylvania grown hemp as well as Delta 8 (D8) products, which is an isomer. D8 has the same psychoactive affect as marijuana without the anxiety and rush of uncontrollability, according to Lasher.
So far, all three partners are very happy with the progress they have made with their online business and now opening a retail store.
A second 3BUDS location is about to open on Adams Avenue in Scranton in the very near future and even a third location is even being discussed.
Lasher admits not everyone is educated on hemp products and urges readers to go to their website at https://3budsllc.com for more information on any of their products.
As for Lasher, he said he would love to see the business expand over time, but in five years, he would like to be a local marijuana and hemp farmer.
“I grew up on a farm and I want to be back on the farm.”
