Walgreens will sell CBD creams, patches and sprays in nearly 1,500 stores in select states, a company executive told financial news network CNBC on Wednesday.
The drugstore chain will sell the cannabis-based products in Colorado, Oregon, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vermont, South Carolina, Illinois and Indiana. Walgreens declined to specify which brands it would carry.
“This product offering is in line with our efforts to provide a wider range of accessible health and wellbeing products and services to best meet the needs and preferences of our customers,” Walgreens spokesman Brian Faith said in an email to CNBC.
Rival drugstore chain CVS recently announced it will sell CBD-containing topicals, including creams and salves, in stores in eight states.
The U.S. retail market for CBD is projected to swell from an estimated $2 billion last year to $16 billion by 2025, according to a report by equity analysts at Cowen.
A key factor in that forecast is the growing variety of CBD products that companies are bringing to market, such as drinks, capsules, gummies, topical lotions and tinctures, which are liquid extracts.
Pueblo County is home to hemp grower and CBD products manufacturer Veritas Farms. Another company, Colorado Springs-based Folium Biosciences, recently announced plans to open a CBD extraction and processing center at the former Andrews Foodservice warehouse in Pueblo West.
Proponents say CBD can relieve pain and anxiety, along with other health benefits. Other industry watchers say more research is needed.
Cowen analyst Vivien Azer estimates that CBD use could grow to 10 percent of U.S. adults, or about 25 million consumers, by 2025.
Original Article: https://www.chieftain.com/news/20190327/walgreens-to-sell-cbd-products
