THESE DAYS, IT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO RECALL A
TIME when finding CBD products on spa treatment
menus and the shelves of their retail areas was a
challenge. But just a couple of years ago, the spa industry
was approaching CBD with at least as much caution as
enthusiasm.
In 2018, fewer than one in five U.S. spas offered
CBD (cannabidiol) treatments or retail products. In the
south central and north central regions of the country,
that figure was even lower, with just three percent
incorporating CBD products and treatments into their
menus. In 2020, those figures may read like misprints,
given the seeming ubiquity of the hemp-derived
compound’s presence across the spa industry.
But CBD’s growing presence in spas belies the complexity
of its journey to this point. In fact, until recently,
CBD was treated no differently under U.S. law than its
cousin THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive
component in cannabis that produces a “high” when used.
In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act labeled cannabis,
along with drugs such as heroin and LSD, a Schedule
I drug. That designation is reserved for those drugs that,
according to the U.S. government, “have no currently
accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
For nearly four decades, that ominous label extended to
all plants in the cannabis family, meaning that hemp
(which contains only trace amounts of THC) remained
illegal alongside THC-rich marijuana.
But language in the 2018 “Farm Bill” created separate
provisions for hemp, permitting cultivation of the plant in
the U.S. (albeit under strict regulations, including a ban on
the use of plants containing more than 0.03 percent THC)
and the manufacture and sales of products using its
components, including CBD oil. Soon, CBD stepped out of
the long shadow cast by the “controlled substance” label
and developed its own reputation as a stress reducer, pain
16 PULSE ■ AUGUST 2020