MEMPHIS, Tenn. — You’ll soon be able to find CBD oil products at two of the largest pharmacy retailers in Tennessee, according to media reports.
Walgreens told CNBC on Wednesday that the chain will sell CBD creams, patches and sprays in some 1,500 stores in nine states, including Tennessee. Other states are Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Vermont, South Carolina, Illinois and Indiana.
The retailer has about 60 Tennessee location in and around Memphis, according to its website.
CVS told Fox Business on Thursday that the company last week started stocking CBD creams, sprays, roll-ons, lotions and salves in more than 800 stores in Tennessee, Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Maryland.
The retailer has more than 160 Tennessee locations.
Tennessee state Sen. Sara Kyle (D-Memphis), who has introduced several bills in the general assembly related to medical marijuana, said she was pleased by the retailers’ announcement.
“I hope that as these CBD products become more available and more convenient, it reduces the stigma for medical cannabis in Tennessee, especially in our legislature. Cannabis is good medicine, and it’s time for the legislature to pass medical cannabis,” Kyle said in a statement.
According to CNN, the CBD floodgates opened after President Donald Trump signed the Farm Bill into law in December. Among other things, the bill legalized the production of hemp, which contains high levels of cannabidiol, or CBD.
CBD is non-psychoactive, meaning it won’t get you high. (THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical in cannabis that does that.) Instead, CBD is marketed for everything from helping to relieve pain and inflammation to reducing stress and anxiety.
Yet, the Food & Drug Administration still hasn’t decided how to regulate CBD products. In a recent interview with Brookings Institution, outgoing FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said it could take several years before the agency fully legalizes CBD for use in food products and dietary supplements.
So far, little clinical research has been conducted to prove CBD’s effectiveness. Last year, the FDA approved the first drug containing CBD for the treatment of certain forms of epilepsy, but no other drugs have been approved since.
