Crystal Nugent first entered the world of cannabidiol (commonly known as CBD) as a customer, when she began using the non-intoxicating, hemp-derived chemical to help manage her anxiety. Today, she’s the franchise owner of New Orleans’ leading CBD retailer and has become a local spokeswoman for a product with a fast-growing global market. In just the first year since Your CBD Store’s founder, Rachael Quinn, opened the company’s first location in Bradenton, Florida, in 2018, more than 300 Your CBD Stores opened. The company expects to reach 1,000 stores this year.
Among the wave of original stores was the first CBD retailer in New Orleans, the one Nugent opened on Magazine Street in July 2018. She has since opened two more stores, one in Metairie and another on the West Bank. Each location has a clean, spa-like vibe and carries a range of CBD oils, tinctures and creams.
Nugent said the stores are designed to be a welcoming space with employees who are well-versed in the product.
“It’s not like your corner vape shop or your spa that happens to carry CBD but has no idea about it,” she said. “It’s very welcoming and very comfortable.”
Unlike THC — the chemical in marijuana that creates the “high” — CBD is legal in most states, including Louisiana, and sales are booming. A recent report by BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research estimates the U.S. market could balloon to $20 billion by 2024.
However, research on CBD is still limited, and the ingredient is mostly unregulated. The FDA has approved a version of CBD to treat only two rare forms of pediatric epilepsy. Here in Louisiana, CBD retailers are navigating new rules signed into law over the summer, including a new permitting process for sellers and a ban on edible and drinkable versions of the ingredient. CBD sales to minors under age 18 were also outlawed.
Nugent said her role has evolved from business owner to CBD advocate and educator for a client base she noted tends to be older individuals seeking alternatives to manage stress or inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and Crohn’s disease.
Nugent said the new rules have meant that her stores can no longer sell CBD gummies and hard candies, but noted she is optimistic about the future of CBD, especially as more research is released. Hemp, the low-THC variety of the cannabis plant used to make cannabidiol, was legalized nationwide in 2018, a move that advocates expect to boost U.S.-based studies of CBD and other cannabinoids.
In the meantime, Nugent said she is studying where Your CBD Store might grow next in the New Orleans area.
“I think the biggest thing is really getting out into the community like I have been and advocating for it and talking about it every way I can,” she said. “That’s what I’m passionate about.”