This trend, the sale of CBD products, is spreading from one major pharmacy chain to the next with the three largest ones already on board.
Rite Aid officials announced last week that the store will begin stocking CBD creams, lotions, and lip balms at more than 200 stores in Oregon and Washington. “We’ve heard from many customers about their interest in purchasing CBD products,” said Chief Operating Officer Bryan Everett during a phone call with analysts to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter earnings.
Rite Aid – founded in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1962 – is the largest drugstore to join the growing CBD trend. Rite Aid has a total of 2,525 stores throughout many American states, mostly on the East and West coasts. Last year, the company ranked number 94 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of largest United States corporations by total revenue amount.
“At this point in time, we’re only offering the topical solutions of creams, lip balms, lotions and we won’t be carrying any of the injectables at any of stores as part of the pilot,” Everett said. Within the last couple of weeks, both CVS and Walgreens announced that they would being selling CBD products. CVS will sell CBD topicals from 8 companies, including CBDMedic at stores in seven states, and Walgreens will be selling an undisclosed brand of creams, patches, and sprays in nearly 1,500 of their stores.
After the passage of the U.S. Farm Bill, hemp-derived CBD products became legal. However, cannabis-derived CBD products are still prohibited, and ALL CBD products are still under strict FDA regulations when being marketed as food, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. How will this affect the major drugstores selling CBD products? Only time will tell.
