Tennessee Health Department Issues Warning About Dangers of CBD Products

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he Tennessee Department of Health issued a warning about the potential dangers of products containing cannabidiol (CBD) and hemp extracts. Although CBD is nonpsychoactive, uninformed sources continue to perpetuate misleading facts about safe cannabis derivatives.

Products touting the health benefits from CBD are popping up in stores across Tennessee. The phenomenon is fairly new to the state, but in Nashville, Knoxville and several other areas of the state, CBD oil businesses are thriving and expanding business. Last March, 19 Tennessee businesses that sold CBD products were raided, causing anger and distrust among business owners.

This led the Tennessee Department of Health to sound the alarm.”There hasn’t been a lot of research around CBD as a medication, so we really have no way of evaluating the claims that are made about the health benefits of CBD,” Dr. David Reagan, the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, told WCYB News.

Recently FDA-approved drugs containing CBD—which currently is only Epidiolex—have been reduced from Schedule I to Schedule V. Other Schedule V drugs include Robitussin AC. “We’re not certain about non FDA approved products and how much CBD oil they contain or how much THC, if any, they contain,” said Dr. Reagan. Reagan pointed out that the warning isn’t directed at CBD products that truly contain less that 0.3 percent THC. That essentially means that the only CBD products they consider safe is Epidiolex, which costs $32,500 per year.

Washington County Assistant District Attorney Tessa Lunceford is also concerned. Lunceford worries that some CBD products are improperly labeled and contain traces of THC. The amount of confusion over the legality and safety of CBD products is staggering.

The Department of Health urged Tennesseans to avoid purchasing out-of-state CBD products and non-FDA-approved CBD products (i.e. everything else other than Epidiolex).