BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
A smoke shop that sparked anger and worry among West Menlo Park residents has permanently closed, county Supervisor Ray Mueller has confirmed.
Blazin Gifts’ lease at 3536 Alameda de las Pulgas will expire at the end of August, Mueller told the Post Monday.
The location will be open for any business to lease in September.
Landlord Mostafa Ronaghi said that any suggestions on what business should be at the location be sent to his property manager, Sam Sadeghian.
“I want to encourage neighbors to please reach out to Mr. Sadeghian with any community-serving business proposals they might have,” Mueller said.
Police raid
The smoke shop, which was open for a little under a month, was raided last week for selling products, including candy, with magic mushrooms, mari juana and tobacco in them, according to sheriff’s office spokeswoman Gretchen Spiker.
The shop, owned by Hussein Omar, never applied for or was issued a license to sell any of the products that were confiscated during the raid, Spiker said.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted on Aug. 12 to ban nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas or whip-its.
The smoke shop brought to Mueller’s attention the dangers of nitrous oxide and said he will continue to look to place a ban on the sale of kratom.
Blazin Gifts is located near Philips Brooks School and La Entrada Middle School, raising concerns from Las Lo-mitas Superintendent Erik Burmeister.
Burmeister previously told the Post he hoped the shop would close down because of how it glamorized drug par-aphernalia. He was already coming up with a plan to warn parents in his back-to-school newsletter to keep their children away from the site.
County litigation, fines
The board also voted 5-0 in closed session to initiate litigation against the shop, County Attorney John Nibbelin reported on Aug. 12.
The shop has accumulated $5,000 in fines for selling tobacco products without a San Mateo County tobacco retailer permit, according to county spokeswoman Effic Verducci. Each violation carries with it the possibility of a $500 fine.
Omar opened Blazin Gifts after his brother, Ahmed Omar, ended his attempt to open a smoke shop last fall.
Omar did not respond to the Post for comment.
Good. This shop was operating illegally. That’s not a good reason for attempting to ban pure leaf kratom.
Obviously these unscrupulous shop owners were knowingly selling some harmful products and should be shut down and fined. However, please STOP including pure leaf KRATOM as a “dangerous” & harmful product. Millions of people use pure leaf kratom to aid in their health related problems. I am a nurse who had to retire on disability due to severe chronic pain. I’ve been using kratom safely & effectively for more than 15 years. Infact, it’s the only thing that has controlled my pain and allowed me to live a productive normal life. The FDA had an opportunity to testify in Federal court against kratom but they did not because they have no factual information showing kratom to be detrimental. Please educate yourself before posting false information.