Calling BS On CVS And CBD

CVS announced last week that, at more than 800 stores in eight states, it is now selling creams, sprays, and lotions infused with CBD, the nonintoxicating hemp component cannabidiol.

This, along with the sale of similar products at many other outlets, seems to give CBD the imprimatur of a great leap forward in health. Only one problem: there is minimal-to-no scientific evidence that CBD, in any form, helps anyone. All claims to pain relief from CBD are purely anecdotal. That doesn’t mean it’s harmful — scientists say there doesn’t appear to be a downside to rubbing it on your skin — but if you think you’re getting any analgesic effect from it, you’re not. And despite coming from the same plant as marijuana, applying it to the outside of your body won’t get you high, either.

None of that has stopped CVS from stocking CBD products. In a press release last week, the company said it was motivated by market forces and is responding to customer demand. There are lots of people in this country who would like to be able to buy heroin or meth at their local pharmacy, but I don’t see CVS giving in to those requests.

“Customer demand” might be an argument in favor of selling a new lip gloss, but with CBD products, consumers don’t know what they’re talking about. They heard about it on TV or on social media, so now they want it, believing that if CVS sells it, it must be a proven — and approved — remedy. But that’s no more true with CBD than it is with other pseudo-scientific nonsense the company puts on its shelves like homeopathic remedies.

Of course, CVS is far from the first business to jump on the CBD bandwagon. When I was in Los Angeles last fall, I walked by a pizza place with this sign in the window:

You know there are people who order a pie thinking it will give them a buzz, which is the opposite of the way it worked when I smoked weed in college (weed first, munchies second!). At the very least, the consumers probably think they’re getting away with something, but it’s actually the pizzeria that is exploiting demand.

I have to share one other marijuana-related story from that California trip. As my Lyft driver took me from one place to another, he pointed and laughed at a large ad for a dispensary that will deliver weed to you with just a phone call (a la GrubHub). I asked what was so funny. He said he knew the owners of that company and, while business was good, they were having a lot of trouble finding enough people to make the deliveries — because they drug-test all applicants!

So, in order to deliver weed, you can’t have any in your system, and that includes CBD — a policy that seems about as logical as a Chinese restaurant testing its employees for traces of soy sauce.

I bet it won’t be long before CVS starts selling home drug kits that can test for traces of CBD in your system. Why not grab both sides of the coin?