You can check my profile, I rarely leave reviews and they're almost always positive, but the night…read moreI left this smoke shop in tears after a medical crisis deserves to be documented.
I want to be very clear upfront: a theft occurred. My boyfriend stole a $40 bottle of kratom during a relapse. That was wrong, and I am not excusing it.
What I am reviewing is how this situation was handled afterward.
When he ran from the store, his phone fell out of his pocket. The phone was not stolen property and had nothing to do with the merchandise taken. When I came to the store shortly afterward, employees confirmed they had the phone.
I explained that my boyfriend was actively trying to enter a treatment facility for substance use disorder and that all of his insurance information, including his Blue Cross Blue Shield member ID, was locked on that phone due to two-factor authentication. Without it, he could not be admitted to treatment.
I offered to repay the stolen item, first double, then triple, and eventually offered $200, not to excuse the theft, but to resolve the situation and retrieve critical medical information. I was scared the longer the wait to get him directly into a facility, the more likely he was to end up out on a spree, and might never make it back. I also offered to provide his location to police after he entered treatment.
Despite this, employees refused to allow even supervised access to retrieve the insurance information. I was told statements such as, "If he wants to be petty, we'll be petty," while his phone was right there in his hands. I was also spoken to at length about what a terrible person my boyfriend was, how he "didn't deserve favors from them" and "needed to be held accountable". I agreed that he didn't need favors. I agreed about the accountability and offered location. I wasn't asking for favors I was asking for his personal property that had nothing to do with the stolen kratom. They had so much to say about someone they had never met beyond this incident.
I was in the store for over an hour crying and explaining the urgency. Eventually, I was told the phone was being kept "for evidence," though a police report had already been filed and the phone itself was not stolen property.
I ultimately called the police because I was terrified my boyfriend could die if he could not access treatment. I was asked to wait outside in freezing weather. While I briefly stepped away to use the restroom, police arrived. When I returned, I was told the store claimed they did not have the phone, despite earlier confirming they did.
The situation left me devastated, unheard, and unable to get my boyfriend into treatment during a critical relapse window.
Accountability matters. But so does humanity. This situation could have been handled with professionalism and compassion while still involving law enforcement. Instead, it escalated into something unnecessarily cruel during a medical crisis.
I hope this business reflects on how it handles situations involving addiction, emergencies, and vulnerable people going forward.
