Legal or not? Cannabis oil sales scrutinized

COEUR d'ALENE - While residents in Idaho's neighboring states are enjoying marijuana recreationally and as a medicine, residents here are not. At least, not legally.

But some vapor smoke shops in the Coeur d'Alene area are offering cannabidiol, or CBD oil, for sale. And it happens to be derived from cannabis, just like marijuana.

CBD oil comes from cannabis that is bred to reduce the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive constituent of the drug, and increase the amount of cannabidiol.

Vapor shop owners say CBD oil users don't get "high" or "stoned." It just relieves pain and has other medical benefits.

Robert Gamble, who co-owns Best Ave. Vapor Store in Coeur d'Alene, sells two different brands of CBD vapor oil.

He also uses the products himself as a sufferer of scoliosis and arthritis in his back.

He likes to "vape" after work to relax his back muscles.

"It's amazing, it really is," Gamble said Thursday.

It's been available for less than six months at his store, he said.

They don't make a big deal about the product's availability. They simply slapped a sign in his front window.

"Through word of mouth, though, it has caught on pretty quickly," he said.

The product helps people with cancer, reduces nausea, and prevents seizures, he said.

CBD oil products also advertise themselves as helping people with heart disease, stress, anorexia, addiction, acne and arthritis. That's to name a few.

Gamble, whose store is at 405 E. Best Ave., said CBD oil has no intoxicating effect.

For his pain relief, he said, he opts for oil over opioids.

"I like something that's more natural," he said. "Something that's derived from a plant."

An employee at CDA Vape, at 4025 N. Government Way, said the shop has been carrying the product, under the name Organabus, for a month.

"It's all for medical purposes," said the employee, Bryce, who declined to give his last name. "It doesn't give you any euphoria or any buzz."

On www.Organabus.com, under Frequently Asked Questions, its producer seeks to put consumers at ease about the product's legality.

"Yep! Available in all 50 states, our CBD comes from industrial hemp," the site said. "Organabus contains only trace amounts of THC, less than 1 percent."

It said customers don't a need a doctor's permission or a medical card to purchase the product.

"It's always a good idea to talk with your physician before starting to take any new supplement," the site said.

As to the question, "Does CBD get me 'high?'" the site simply answered, "No."

Local and federal law enforcement officials said there are more serious and bigger problems they need to tackle than cannabis oil sale and use. But they believe the product is illegal.

Scot Haug, chief of the Post Falls Police Department, said if vapor shops are selling oil derived from a marijuana plant and the product contains THC - then it's illegal.

True CBD oil is essentially the same substance as "hash oil" or "honey oil," Haug said, which is pure THC extracted from the marijuana plant.

Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, said as far as the federal government is concerned CBD oil is illegal.

"Marijuana oil is probably the best way to (describe) it," Payne said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved CBD oil as a medicine through scientific research and policymakers have prohibited its production, distribution, sale and possession, he said.

Some states, like Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Montana have adopted their own approach to cannabis.

Two years ago, the Department of Justice announced it wouldn't focus enforcement actions on states like Washington, where recreational marijuana use is legal and the state is handling regulation.

To the DEA, cannabis is treated as a Schedule I drug, like heroin, LSD or ecstasy.

However, the agency has to focus resources on prescription drug and heroin epidemics.

"Our job is to go after large-scale drug trafficking networks," Payne said.

There is danger for consumers, as CBD oil products aren't regulated, he said.

"A lot of these smoke shops, they like to misrepresent what they're selling," he said. "They may say it's CBD oil, and it may be something a lot worse than that. You just don't know until you get it tested."