ORLANDO, Fla. — Retired New York police officer Roberto Acevedo did his time cracking down on crime as a police officer in New York.

Now in Orlando during the coronavirus pandemic, he’s breaking into a brand new business venture, one that used to be illegal — hemp.

“I’m very excited about it. Trying something new,” Acevedo said of the Nothing But Hemp store. “Now that it’s legalized, I’m starting to see the benefits of it.”

Acevedo saw those benefits up close, thanks to his niece and now business partner, Stephanie Ayala.

“She was the main reason that I made the decision because she knows the product,” Acevedo said. “She knows what it can do for people.”

Ayala knows what it did for her. She has used several of the products they sell, but she remembers what it was like before she found CBD, taking medication every day for her anxiety and depression.

“Those antidepressants were just taking over me,” Ayala said. “My anxiety was getting worse. It was getting to the point where I wouldn’t want to leave my room.”

From feeling trapped, to being surrounded by the substance she said made her feel finally free.

Now she is excited to serve her customers, to see if CBD is what they, like her, never knew they needed.

“Giving them some knowledge on this business, and letting them know that it’s okay to do stuff like this,” Ayala said.

For Acevedo, selling tinctures, gummies, CBD flowers, and pain creams is a far cry from his past career.

But as he said, “The world changes every day, so we gotta go along with the changes so we grow and learn. The more we learn, the more changes we’re going to make in our life.”

Acevedo still runs his security business, which is headquartered inside, right behind the CBD shop.

But he said he’s happy to be providing another essential service, in a time when people may need it most.