A Bloomington store is now offering tea with hemp-derived cannabidiol or CBD extract. Bloomingtea has been selling what they're calling "CBTea" for about two weeks. Owner Christian Frederickson says five or six customers a day opt to add the CBD powder to their cup of tea for $3.
The Indiana legislature passed a law in 2014 legalizing industrial hemp if it contained point three percent or less THC. Lawmakers legalized the use of CBD oil to treat Hoosiers with epilepsy this past legislative session. CBD is a non-psychoactive component of the cannabis and hemp plant.
Frederickson says he decided to start offering the tea after seeing interest in Bloomington and an increase in the offering of CBD products by larger retailers.
"In a way, I'm taking the lead from some national brands, and some stores that are now choosing to carry it. I'm assuming if it's alright with them, then it's alright with us," he says. "If that changes, of course, we'll have to respond to that."
Frederickson says that if the law changes at either the federal or state level, he would take the "CBTea" off the menu.