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Taylor Computer Auto Repair A/C Service & Repair • Engine Service & Repair • Brake Service & Repair Shocks Struts • Alignments Tune Ups & Much More! 27928 State Hwy 64 • Canton, TX 75103 • 903-567- 3948 CBD products are everywhere in Texas since the state legalized hemp. Experts warn: buyer beware. By Naomi Andu January 23, 2020 *correction appended. In 2017, business was slow for Sarah Kerver. She was a sales rep for a Colorado-based company trying to push hemp and CBD products in Texas. But customers were apprehensive. “No one wanted to touch [CBD]. No one wanted to talk about it. No one was interested in carrying this product in any sort of spa or retail space,” Kerver said. Today, the market for CBD, or cannabidiol, is exploding. Stores are popping up across the state selling tinctures and topicals. It’s being mixed into smoothies and coffee at cafes. Spas are
advertising CBD massages and therapies. And much of the sudden spike in popularity is thanks to a Texas law last year that legalized hemp, the plant from which CBD is derived. “You go anywhere now, and you find something that says ‘CBD’ on it,” said Kerver, who’s now in talks with Austin distributors interested in carrying her CBD product line, called 1937 Apothecary. But buyer beware, experts warn. Anyone can sell CBD in Texas. Many of the products are advertised as natural alternatives to prescription medications and make unfounded claims to treat conditions like chron-
contains only traces of the psychoactive compounds and is richer in CBD. In June, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill legalizing hemp and A hemp plant inside of the Custom Bo- bringing state tanical Dispensary in Austin. Stores policy in line selling CBD products are popping up with federal across Texas. Marjorie Kamys Cotera law. for The Texas Tribune Confusion on the part of law enic pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, diabetes forcement has led to the and psychosis. But none of wrongful arrests of some these claims are recognized in possession of CBD or by the U.S. Food and Drug hemp even after the Texas law went into effect. Still, Administration. And because of lax label- the policy change is an iming and licensing regula- portant step on the way to tions, unsuspecting con- allowing Texans to partake sumers may not actually without fear of reprisal, know what they’re buying. according to Lisa Pittman, “Unless you really know a lawyer on the Texas Dethat it’s something reputa- partment of Agriculture’s ble, I would say to be wary industrial hemp advisory because you don’t really council. Sarah Kerver is the owner know that it is even CBD,” of Custom Botanical DisKerver said. pensary in Austin. Booming business Marjorie Kamys Cotera In 2018, the federal government passed a new for The Texas Tribune Because Kerver launched Farm Bill legalizing hemp and derivatives, like CBD, her line before the Texas with less than 0.3% of bill, she’s seen firsthand THC, or tetrahydrocannab- how changes in the law inol. Hemp and marijuana have led to evolving attiare both part of the canna- tudes in Texas about the bis plant family, but while products. Previously, she marijuana is rich in THC was able to sell Colorado and produces a high, hemp CBD products before the
federal government legalized hemp because of the 2014 Farm Bill, which started a pilot program for participating states to grow industrial hemp. “There’s been more media around it since Texas has come on board, definitely,” Kerver said. “Texans are becoming more educated about it and much more open to it.” Industry leaders say they can’t calculate the exact number of new CBD businesses that have opened in Texas over the past year — in part because the Texas Department of State Health Services won’t implement licensing requirements until early this year — though anecdotally, many say they’ve seen an uptick. The Austin Chamber of Commerce counted at least three CBD-related relocations or expansions since the bill passed last summer, creating about 140 new jobs in the emerging sector. But the list, which is compiled from public media announcements and deals the chamber is involved in, isn’t comprehensive. Sisters Shayda and Sydney Torabi founded Restart CBD in September 2018, just before the Farm Bill passed. Sydney Torabi said the changes in the law have made business run more smoothly. The two originally intended to operate the business
exclusively online but decided to open a brick-andmortar location in Austin after having difficulty with several online payment companies, from momand-pop merchants to giants like PayPal, that didn’t want anything to do with cannabis. “We were a business, but it wasn’t as functional as it could’ve been until the [Texas] law passed,” Sydney Torabi said. The Torabis started with a pop-up store and expanded to a permanent location last April, a month before Texas law changed. “We were operating in a gray area until the Texas bill passed,” Sydney said. “It did take away a little bit of the stigma. Like, ‘OK, now it’s legal in Texas. We can go to a CBD shop and not feel like we’re doing something bad.’
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