ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — A former NFL player is the latest entrepreneur to jump on the CBD bandwagon.
Former all-pro tight end Rob Gronkowski retired just before his 30th birthday after nine bruising seasons in the NFL.
"You see those collisions every day, every game — and they're huge, they're massive and you can't get that anywhere else in sports, you just can't," Gronkowski said. "And that's why people love the game."
But all those hard hits and countless injuries come with a price. Gronkowski claims CBD helped him get over lingering football pain — and he's now encouraging professional sports leagues to allow its use.
"I'm here today to appeal to the sports governing bodies of the world to update their position on CBD — whether it's the NBA, MLB or NFL. It's just time," said Gronkowski.
The former New England Patriot announced his partnership Tuesday with a cannabidiol (CBD) product for athletes to use during rehab and recovery of injuries. The product is called CBDMEDIC. Gronkowski has also become an investor in Abacus Health Products, the maker of CBDMEDIC.
So are CBD products safe?
"Right now, it looks like CBD products are pretty safe, pretty harmless," said Dr. Jennifer Wessels, a family medicine physician and Vice President of Medical Affairs for SSM Health Medical Group. "There's still a lot more research that needs to be done. These products come from the hemp or marijuana plant. It is harvested differently and it does not have the same effects that marijuana would on a person."
But she does have one big concern.
"One issue we need to think about is that these products really are not regulated," Dr. Wessels tells KMOX. "So anyone could put a label on these products and make any type of claims and we really don't have any scientific backing behind it to really prove or disprove the claims they are making."
"In a lot of these products, we don't really know the concentration of CBD, how pure it is, or if it was added with other products," said Dr. Wessels. "So when you purchase these products, you don't truly know what you are getting at this point in time."
The FDA says it is currently reviewing claims of the purported health benefits of CBD products.
The U.S. market for CBD products grew last year to nearly $600 million.