PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Smoking and vaping shops seem to be popping up everywhere these days, and not everyone is happy about it.

Residents say they devalue the shopping districts and attract a shady clientele. Police say some are selling marijuana illegally, but shop owners disagree.

East Ohio Street, on the north side of town, is undergoing a revitalization with several new upscale restaurants, a Prantl bakery and a flower shop. But it is also home to a tobacco shop called Hippie Town, which residents and other businesses say attracts a shady clientele with its products.

“We’re trying to revitalize this street,” said Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson.

“We don’t need companies like that. We want companies that want to be part of the community, not those that just want to get by with the law,” Wilson said.

Hippie Town’s owner, 42-year-old Christopher Younger, has spent most of the past year in jail and in court. In multiple raids, police allegedly seized “large quantities of marijuana” at his North Side business, his other business in downtown Pittsburgh and a home he owns in Pine. Police say lab tests have shown the seized material to be marijuana, which Younger denies.

Younger says he sells hemp, which is technically legal under the Pennsylvania Farm Bill. It is sold as THCathat doesn’t get you high when ingested, but does when smoked or vaped. THCa is currently sold in stores across the region, but Younger says he’s being hit particularly hard because of his criminal past.

Younger has a long list of arrests, including convictions for drug trafficking and assault spanning two decades and repeated prison stints, but today he says he is a legitimate businessman being unfairly attacked by the police and neighboring businesses who claim it brings a bad element to the neighborhood.

“There are no drug addicts outside. Nobody has a problem here. I pay my rent,” Younger said.

“I’m not a problem for anyone. I was here before they even knew. We’ve been here for almost two years,” he said.

“So you’re being followed?” asked KDKA-TV investigator Andy Sheehan.

“And I still don’t understand it,” Younger said.

A district judge just dismissed one of the charges against Younger, but another case is scheduled to go to trial in October. He also faces similar charges related to a store in Indiana County.

In a statement, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office rejected Younger’s claim that he was being selectively prosecuted: “We are continuing the pending proceedings. We respectfully disagree with Mr. Younger.”

And City Councilman Bobby Wilson wants the district attorney to go even further and shut down Hippie Town altogether.

“We can label bars as nuisance bars. Is this a nuisance bar? We’re looking into that right now,” Wilson said.

But Younger says he might leave Pittsburgh on his own.

“I could go to different places where there is no problem,” Younger said. “They can have that. I just want to beat that. I just want to win my cases and they can have Pittsburgh. I could go to Mississippi. I could go to Arkansas. I could go to Kansas. Anywhere that’s legal, I could do that.”

But for now, Younger is busy in court. Pittsburgh police say they are reconsidering dismissed charges in one case, and the other case will go to trial. Younger needs to stay out of the picture if Hippie Town is to survive.