The Herbalist Company opens CBD store in Southampton

The Herbalist Company hopes to make a 'difference to people's lives for the better'.

The company launched in 2019 and makes a business selling cannabidiol (CBD) oils and vapes after the government legalised the substance in 2018.

The award-winning firm recently opened its fourth store in Bedford Place, but already has existing sites in Gillingham, Manchester and Andover.

Cannabidiols naturally occur in the body as well as being a compound found in marijuana.

CBD is taken from the cannabis plant before being diluted where it can then be ingested to relieve the likes of anxiety, depression and heart disease, among other conditions.

Royan Shehara, who works for The Herbalist Company and oversaw the opening of the Southampton outlet, told The Daily Echo: “It can be life-changing.

“We're not saying we can cure cancer because we know we can't do that, even if we wish we could.

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“But we can make a difference to people's lives for the better.

“The service we provide seems to be catching on because cannabinoids were only legalised in this country a few years ago.

“It had been legalised in the likes of the US and Canada, long before the UK and it's something that makes a difference everywhere to the people that use it.”

Alex Garrett, manager of The Herbalist Company, told The Echo: “We’re dedicated to CBD and we know it has to be good otherwise we wouldn’t want to sell it.

“We felt it was important to open a store in Southampton as we felt the city was deprived of places where you can buy CBD oils.”

Customers can buy four different strengths of CBD oils ranging from 1,500ml strength oils that account for five per cent strength, up to 20 per cent strength oils.

The rise in popularity for CBD oil from consumers comes as the NHS OpenPrescribing service shows that medicines made from cannabis plants were prescribed 171 times by GPs in 2022, up from 134 times the year previous in Hampshire.