CVS Health threw its hat in the CBD ring with a distribution deal with Curaleaf Holding Inc., that will sell its products in 600 of CVS’s 10,000 stores this year.
According to the Motley Fool, topical products like lotions and sprays will be sold in CVS stores in Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee, states where “legal weed” is allowed.
Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to sell CBD creams, patches, and sprays at 1,500 Walgreens stores in nine states, the company told CNBC on Wednesday this week.
The cannabis-based products will be sold in Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vermont, South Carolina, Illinois, and Indiana.
“This product offering is in line with our efforts to provide a wider range of accessible health and wellbeing products and services to best meet the needs and preferences of our customers,” Walgreens spokesman Brian Faith said in an email to CNBC.
Consumers are curious about CBD
The demand for CBD oil and CBD-infused products continues to grow as consumers become increasingly curious about CBD, which promises to help everything from anxiety to pain even though there is little evidence backing up these claims.
But as long as people continue to pursue affordable alternatives to pharmaceuticals, CBD products will remain in the public’s eye. The one good thing about non-THC cannabidiol is that it is not psychoactive. Using a shampoo with CBD oil probably won’t hurt you any more than using one with coconut oil.
And as far as using non-THC CBD oil (hemp oil) to relieve stress or pain, even though there is no conclusive evidence to say it does, is not going to hurt you, either, according to this writer and many other people who use CBD oil.
There is still disagreement, though on the legality of selling any CBD-infused products within the United States. This is because both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs.
The FDA warns companies that introducing food containing added CBD or THC into interstate commerce, or to market CBD or THC products as, or in, dietary supplements, regardless of whether the substances are hemp-derived, is against the law, according to Forbes.
FDA is staking its turf on CBD regulation — and Congress, which legalized it along with hemp production in December, isn’t too happy about it. “This has just created a problem that we didn’t need to have,” Maine Democrat Chellie Pingree says: Owermohle (@owermohle) March 26, 2019
With Walgreens and CVS jumping into the CBD market, this could mean that there is going to be a fight as the CBD debate grows more heated. The FDA is fully aware of the popularity of CBD products, and this consumer enthusiasm will be hard to control.
Market summary: CVS shares trading at 53.61 USD +0.25 (0.47%) as of March 29, 2019, at 12:53 p.m.
Market summary: Walgreens shares trading at 63.15 USD +0.64 (1.02%) as of March 29, 2019, at 12:53 p.m.
