Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cannabidiol takes off in region
A component of the marijuana plant is taking off in popularity around Northwest Arkansas, sellers say, though two doctors warned the substance isn’t the cure-all some might suggest.
Almost two years have passed since Arkansas voters approved medical marijuana, but the drug isn’t available as the state slowly gives out permits for cultivation and sales, which might start next year.
More and more shops in the meantime have started selling a chemical found in marijuana and hemp called cannabidiol, or CBD, which several proponents and customers say can ease such ailments as pain and anxiety without the high or hassle of marijuana.
“Nobody wants CBD just recreationally, you know what I mean?” said Cyrus Riahi, owner of CBD Sacred Leaf, a Kansas City company that opened a Fayetteville store in April. He said it’s already one of the company’s best-performing locations in four states.
“We’re able to get in here and not have to worry about doing something illegal while still bringing the benefits of medical marijuana,” he said.
Others urged caution and said CBD brings a few complications. It’s essentially sold as an herbal supplement, not a federally regulated medication, so quality and ingredients can vary widely. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the agency
considers CBD illegal despite its wide sales and its lack of THC, the compound that creates marijuana’s high.
“What I’m worried about is consumers will be taken advantage of and sold sort of snake oil,” said Dr. Greg Bledsoe, the Arkansas surgeon general and an opponent of the medical marijuana legalization ballot issue in 2016.
CBD’S PROMISE
Researchers have found strong evidence that marijuana and the dozens of compounds it contains can provide some relief from pain, nausea induced by chemotherapy and several other health issues, according to a review last year from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved synthetic version of THC can be prescribed for cancer patients, for example, and the administration just last month approved a CBD oral solution for children with two rare, severe types of epilepsy. The national academies’ analysis found weaker evidence that CBD generally can improve anxiety symptoms.
Kelson Guerreiro, who lives in Madison County, said he buys a bottle at Sacred Leaf two or three times a month to help dull pain from multiple health problems.
“Instead of taking another pill, I can take a drop of my CBD oil,” he said.
He considered medical marijuana, but since it’s illegal at the federal level, he decided it wasn’t worth the risk of losing his disability benefits.
“I kind of had to turn to CBD, but at the same time, I’m happy I did,” he said.
Wendy Love Edge of Fayetteville said she takes some form of CBD daily for anxiety, depression and to take the edge off pain from an inflammatory disease. She’s a writer and advocate for marijuana who said her nonprofit group, Bulldozer Health, has helped dozens of Arkansans pay for the doctor visit needed to get a state medical marijuana card.
Requests for that help have dropped off as the state government’s process for permitting growers has been delayed by court challenges and complaints about an inconsistent scoring process for applicants, Love Edge said. Five growers received permits Tuesday, but an attorney for the Arkansas Medical Association said he expected more lawsuits. Dispensary licenses haven’t yet been awarded.
“So I do think that while they wait, perhaps it is good for CBD sales. And that’s a good thing, because CBD really is a great medicine,” Love Edge said.
Local natural foods and glass pipe shops have jumped into the market. Ozark Natural Foods in Fayetteville began selling the compound two or three years ago, said Kelsey Kennedy, wellness department manager. Vapor Maven CEO Hermin Thind said the vaping liquid company brought on CBD about a year and a half ago. And a shop called CBD American Shaman held a ribbon cutting with the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.
“It’s a really hot subject,” said Andrea Sanders, a Lowell resident who quit her job as a hair stylist a few months ago to sell CBD oils, lotions and pet treats for the Nevada-based company HempWorx. The push for medical marijuana has helped bring attention to it, she added. “It’s everywhere; it’s on newsstands, it’s on the radio, it’s on TV shows.”
American Shaman co-owner Bill Gallea said he expects to open another store in Springdale within a couple of months because interest is so high. The store offers water-soluble CBD solutions that can be mixed with glasses of water or juice or other liquids.
The surge in sellers stems in part from the 2014 farm bill passed by Congress. That law made it legal in certain contexts to grow industrial hemp, which is distinguished from marijuana by the negligible amount of THC it contains. CBD vendors say their products have little or no THC and won’t cause a positive result in workplace drug tests.
The Arkansas Plant Board last month approved rules for growing hemp in this state but hasn’t yet taken applications for growing permits, so vendors said they get their products from elsewhere: Colorado, Kentucky, even other countries.
PROS AND CONS
Sellers say they’re confident their products are completely legal throughout the country because of the low THC content, but the picture is somewhat fuzzier. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent and regional spokeswoman Debora Webber said sellers could face the risk of prosecution because CBD is a derivative of the marijuana plant.
The approval of the CBD medication for seizures means the administration could change the technical classification of CBD to make it legal, but even then it would likely require a prescription, she said.
The multiplying sellers and signs and billboards for CBD nonetheless suggest a hands-off approach from local law enforcement. Matt Durrett, prosecuting attorney for Washington and Madison counties, said his office hasn’t prosecuted anyone for selling the substance. He said of local police: “It hasn’t become a priority for them, and I don’t know that it will.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Fort Smith said it hasn’t pursued any cases involving CBD either. The Benton County prosecutor’s office didn’t return a phone message requesting comment last week.
On the customer side, Love Edge, Guerreiro and others urged people to check the source, contents and concentration of their CBD oil and ask the business to provide its outside laboratory tests as proof.
Dr. Greg Sharp, a pediatric neurologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital, took part in the clinical study of the recently approved seizure medication. The study used pure CBD with a concentration of 100 milligrams per milliliter, he said, but he’s seen some CBD products with only a few milligrams. That’s not enough to have an effect and leaves room for who knows what else in the bottle, he said.
The CBD medication had some side effects such as sleepiness and decreased appetite, but “for the most part, they’re pretty benign,” Sharp added. “It really is a pretty safe medication.”
That doesn’t mean CBD can do everything, Sharp and Bledsoe said. Sharp joked that he had heard claims it could help digestion and regrow hair. The FDA-approved CBD medication was tested while patients were still taking other medications, Bledsoe said, meaning even with CBD’s clear success, it didn’t reveal itself as a panacea.
Price can be another issue, with a 1-ounce bottle at several shops costing $50 and more. Guerreiro said it was the only point against CBD in his opinion. Besides that, he thinks it could help with opioid painkiller addiction and overdoses.
“At the end of the day, man, CBD will be the way to go,” he said. “The CBD’s here right now, and most people don’t know about it.”