here's why
Through our own market research, we can confirm that 38% of pharmacies in the UK are now stocking CBD. While such a figure may create an idea that CBD is being welcomed with open arms into the British pharmaceutical industry, this isn’t actually the case. In fact, almost all of these ‘38%’ are members of the big brand club; Boots, Lloyd Pharmacies, Gordons Chemists, Superdrug, and so on.
What’s stopping your local independent pharmacy from stocking CBD products? The uncertainty surrounding its regulatory status? Lack of demand? Perhaps it’s just down to the absence of trustworthy information surrounding the subject.
Through our own market research, we can confirm that 38% of pharmacies in the UK are now stocking CBD. While such a figure may create an idea that CBD is being welcomed with open arms into the British pharmaceutical industry, this isn’t actually the case. In fact, almost all of these ‘38%’ are members of the big brand club; Boots, Lloyd Pharmacies, Gordons Chemists, Superdrug, and so on.
What’s stopping your local independent pharmacy from stocking CBD products? The uncertainty surrounding its regulatory status? Lack of demand? Perhaps it’s just down to the absence of trustworthy information surrounding the subject.
First of all, we can rule out lack of demand. According to Forbes magazine the CBD industry is poised to increase by 700% by 2020. In the UK alone, the number of recorded users increased from 125,000 in 2017 to 305,000 by the end of 2018.



What about reliable information? Peer reviewed journals? A quick search on one of the world’s largest open scientific journals database publons.com provides over 1000 journals relating to cannabidiol (CBD). It seems fairly safe to say that the information is out there If you choose to look for it.
So, why aren’t many independent pharmacies stocking it? It would seem logical to assume that thanks to the uncertain future surrounding the legal and regulatory status of CBD in the European Union and the United Kingdom, many independent pharmacies are put off investing in stock that they might not be able to legally sell.
Now for those that don’t follow the CBD industry with the same fiendish obsession that we do here at AP Organics, it might be worth googling ‘CBD novel food’. This will give you a good catch up on where we are at currently regarding regulation.
Good news is on the horizon however – the ‘Cannabis Trade Association’ representing over 700 UK businesses have been spending a great deal of time in Brussels and with our own Politicians working to encourage them to take a more pragmatic and sensible approach on regulating cannabis products.



Now for those that don’t follow the CBD industry with the same fiendish obsession that we do here at AP Organics, it might be worth googling ‘CBD novel food’. This will give you a good catch up on where we are at currently regarding regulation.
Good news is on the horizon however – the ‘Cannabis Trade Association’ representing over 700 UK businesses have been spending a great deal of time in Brussels and with our own Politicians working to encourage them to take a more pragmatic and sensible approach on regulating cannabis products.
One thing we know is that ‘Full Spectrum’ CBD products will not fall under the umbrella of ‘Novel Foods’, instead only foods that contain ‘Isolated CBD’ will be affected by this legislation. The difference between the two very simply put is that ‘Full Spectrum’ CBD contains all of the other cannabinoids such as THC, CBG and so on. ‘Isolated CBD’ as you might guess is CBD which has been completely separated from the other components of the cannabis plant. Because the scientific methods required to ‘Isolate’ CBD are relatively new, the end product could be considered ‘Novel’.
So, in short it seems that the large pharmaceutical companies just have more time to follow the ever-changing regulatory environment and as such, they seem to have come to the conclusion that CBD is here to stay. We hope that it is only a matter of time before you can see trustworthy CBD products in every pharmacy in the United Kingdom.



So, in short it seems that the large pharmaceutical companies just have more time to follow the ever-changing regulatory environment and as such, they seem to have come to the conclusion that CBD is here to stay. We hope that it is only a matter of time before you can see trustworthy CBD products in every pharmacy in the United Kingdom.