First CBD oil store opens in Houston area

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Stores selling cannabis oil, or CBD oil, have been opening in cities throughout the U.S., including Houston. Last week, Houston's Original American Shaman had its grand opening in Fort Bend County.

Houston's Original American Shaman is located on State Highway 6 near Bissonnet Street. 

CBD oil is a holistic, alternative approach to medicine that many people swear by. Some people say it provides a calming effect for conditions like anxiety, epilepsy and seizures.  

Brenda Kessler has been using a walker to get around for more than a decade.  

"Three weeks ago, I was in TIRR Memorial Hermann, not able to walk because I had my eleventh back surgery and I was paralyzed," said Kessler. Her neck brace, put in just two months ago, is the result of all those back surgeries within the last eight years.

Kessler is in constant pain. Over the years, she has been prescribed a lot of painkillers, but now she completely swears by CBD oil. 

"Opiates or any of your pain medication, gets you goofy and sleepy and high," described Kessler. "This doesn't. This relieves the pain. It doesn't get rid of all the pain but if I can tolerate it, if i'm able just to tolerate it, that's a 100 percent improvement for me." 

Kessler, a former nurse, said she has been using CBD oil products over the last year. Everything from a cream and drops of the oil infused with water or other drinks, helps provide a calming effect that relieves pain, anxiety and stress.

It's a similar story for Kimberly Dollens.

Since 2002, Dollens has been off and on a number of different opiates and prescription painkillers for her rare spinal cord disease. 

Dollens said those fifteen years have been a blur.

"It's often misdiagnosed for chronic back pain," said Dollens. "I've also been in four car accidents in the last 45 days and I have a fractured foot."

"It gets emotional at times because I know I've missed part of my kids lives because I just slept," continued Dollens. 

Adam Schaub is the franchise owner of Houston's Original American Shaman. He said he was inspired to open the store after his nine-year-old daughter suffered an aneurysm in November 2017. 

With less than 0.03% of something called THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, that gets users high, Schaub said that's how the product is totally legal. 

"You're going to get the calm without the high," said Schaub. "But that's what's so important about it. You know, everything is within legal limits both federally and statewide, both 0.03% or less."

Schaub said its key distinction being an ingredient called hemp. 

"If you could get in trouble, we wouldn't be open," explained Schaub. "We wouldn't have gotten a state license. We wouldn't have been cleared by Fort Bend County. The fire marshal wouldn't have gone, 'Sure, you're good to go.' You wouldn't have police officers walking in here without walking out with us."

FOX 26 News legal analysts said the 0.03% THC dose is considered so low, it is not a quantifiable amount that can be criminalized. 

Experts also urge customers to beware and do their own research! Make sure you're checking the labels and only buying from reputable sellers.