The Cannabidiol Shopping Experience

"Although there's some evidence of the health benefits of CBD, it has certainly not been shown to be the cure-all that the Whole Foods crowd seems to think."
"But when I injured my rib recently, I wanted to test out its purported anti-inflammation and pain-relief benefits. The Ontario Cannabis Store, which is still the only legal distributor of cannabis products in the province, did not have any CBD tinctures or capsules in stock."
"I had to go to a grey-market pot shop, where they sold me pills that looked legit at first -- until I realized there was no French on the packaging."
"I would have much preferred to buy a product legal in Canada that I could be confident contained the amount of CBD that was listed on the package."
Jesse Kline, journalist, The Growth Op

When it comes to cannabis-infused edibles though, they’re legal in certain U.S. states based on their designated cannabis program. tavan amonratanasareegul / iStock / Getty Images Plus

The growth of CBD products in the U.S. resulted from the passage of the Farm Bill last year, legalizing industrial hemp production. CBD products nonetheless remain in a legal grey area for though the Farm Bill permits farmers the growth of hemp legally, it fails to allow it to be grown as a commercial crop. Yet hemp-based products are permitted to be imported as long as they are not derived from the plant's foliage or flowers containing the CBD. The result of which is that most companies are not using legally-sourced cannabidiol.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is the non-psychoactive cannabinoid from both the marijuana and hemp plants and it has become hugely popular among the public among whom proponents claim it is a miracle cure for ailments from inflammation to pain, insomnia, seizures and anxiety. CBD-infused products proliferate everywhere. Unfortunately most of those products are completely illegal in their origin and production, at least in Canada, and likely in the United States as well.

Store shelves throughout Canada feature products like CBD-infused liquids for use with electronic cigarettes, teas, massage oils, pills and pet treats; their ubiquitous presence assuring consumers that they must surely be legal. In the U.S. new CBD-based products are announced virtually on a daily basis. Cafes add CBD to coffee, bars introduce CBD cocktails, while retailers stock CBD-laced topical creams, beverages and other products too numerous to come to mind.

Over the years, Health Canada has held conversations about allowing natural health products, health food products to contain CBD.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not formalized rules for CBD products even while it wants all food and pharmaceutical products which contain CBD to be streamed through a regulatory approval process. That being the case, some cities and states have taken their cue from that unsettled situation to crack down on the products and their purveyors. Companies still continue to invest in new products and it seems certain the CBD market in the U.S. will continue to thrive and to grow.

In Canada, however, though growing hemp has been legal since 1998, government continues to treat CBD the same as THC, even though the former has no psychotropic properties and the latter decidedly does. The extraction of CBD from hemp crops is disallowed from Canadian hemp farmers, preventing them from fully monetizing their cops, and further limiting the supply of CBD.

Leading to the current situation where the only legal CBD products in Canada are high-CBD cannabis strains along with oil-based tinctures, gel caps and sprays which are sold to medical patients through licensed producers -- alternately to recreational users through licensed retailers with provincial licenses. Products like foods and topical creams will be legalized when marijuana edibles are, likely in the fall. Subject to strict regulations, sold only in stores licensed to sell cannabis.

The market for CBD, used predominantly in beauty, health and wellness products, is completely different than the market for THC-based products -- which forces people to enter a cannabis store for the purpose of buying face creams and bottled water. Mild, non-psychoactive pain relievers should be readily available to people, should that be their choice; just as casually available as aspirin is to people entering pharmacies or supermarkets for that particular purchase.

CBD, while lacking much in the way of reliable evidence for its purported health benefits has not, on the other hand, been demonstrated as harmful. Grocery and health food stores throughout Canada carry a wide array of plant-based herbs and compounds, many of them with health claims dubious at best, yet little reason exists why CBD products may not be available alongside those products in the very same places where one group is available and the other is not.

With recreational cannabis now legal, products with CBD are regulated like traditional cannabis products. iStock / Getty Images Plus