CVS Pharmacy, a US-based subsidiary of the American retail and health care company CVS Health, is reportedly dipping their toes in the cannabidiol (CBD) waters.
This was confirmed through a company statement given to CNBC just this Wednesday, saying that the company will now be selling CBD products at select locations across eight states, including California, Colorado, Alabama, and Maryland, among 4 other states. In fact, with the company stating that it's only working with CBD companies "that are complying with applicable laws and that meet's CVS's high standard for quality," the company is now selling everything from CBD oils, to lotions and even sprays.
The CBD movement
According to Dr. Margaret Haney, a professor of neurobiology at Columbia University Medical Center and director of Columbia's Marijuana Research Laboratory, "Societies have jumped far, far ahead of science. So it's showing up in lotions and pretty much any form of product one can use. There's a lot different ways one could use CBD, but the ways we have studied CBD is much more limited."
Presently, the pharmaceutical chain has over 9,800 stores nationwide, and is soon planning to roll out their approved CBD products in 800 of it. Per the health care chain, effectivity claims will of course, vary from product-to-product, but the company has no plans of labelling any of them as a "cure-all" product.
In a recent interview with CNBC, CVS Health CEO Larry Merlo said, "We're going to walk slowly, but this is something we think our customers will be looking for."
However, despite the CBD rollout, the company also confirmed that CVS will not be putting up any CBD-based supplements or food additives for sale. That's because under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, it is still illegal to introduce drug ingredients like CBD into the food supply, much less market them as dietary supplements.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb also spoke about this in a statement released last December, saying, "Selling unapproved products with unsubstantiated therapeutic claims is not only a violation of the law, but also can put patients at risk, as these products have not been proven to be safe or effective."
According to experts, while CBD has been touted as a treatment for a wide range of conditions - including anxiety, pain, inflammation and even cancer, little reliable research has been done on its full effect on humans, especially after prolonged use.
