Conservative States Are Embracing CBD For Medicinal Use

The biggest victories in marijuana legal reform have been in states considered more progressive than average: California, Washington, Massachusetts and the like. But you may be surprised by the number of predominately conservative states taking a good look at the landscape.

You can thank CBD-based medicine for that.

“Progress is being made in places you’d never have thought possible,” said Keith Stroup, founder of NORML, told the Marijuana Business Daily.

According to a comprehensive report from Kristen Nichols, the demand for CBD-infused products are changing the way so-called Red states view the issue.  

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Nichols report shows that states from Virginia to Iowa to Utah are studying how to allow some forms of cannabis:

• Virginia’s governor recently signed an expansion of the state’s low-THC medical marijuana registry, removing any list of qualifying conditions for the drug and allowing it for any ailment for which a physician recommends cannabis.
• Iowa is reviewing 21 applications for proposed dispensaries selling low-THC marijuana, with five stores slated to be approved next month.
• Indiana lawmakers have passed a bill to expand CBD access from patients with certain kinds of epilepsy to all adults. The measure awaits the governor’s signature.
• Louisiana is expected to start issuing cannabis licenses this spring, with the first cannabis pharmacy aiming for a Sept. 1 opening.
• In Alabama, patients may possess CBD for any condition for which the drug offers “therapeutic or palliative relief,” and the state no longer requires physicians to have a UAB affiliation to recommend cannabidiol.
• In Utah, a House committee ihas approved a bill to allow pharmacies to sell CBD products produced under state supervision. The bill has the backing of the Utah Medical Association and the state’s Department of Agriculture.

Why this push from conservative states? Because CBD is medicine. Plain and simple. Cannabidiol — or CBD — is a non-intoxicating component of cannabis with great therapeutic potential.

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CBD doesn’t make people feel high like THC does. Medical marijuana patients are using CBD-rich products to treat a wide range of conditions: chronic pain, cancer, Crohn’s, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, PTSD, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, antibiotic-resistant infections, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, and more.