Texas Live! has expanded its multi-year partnership with CBD Kratom to include the sale of certain lab-tested CBD products at select local events.
Texas Live! is an Arlington-based entertainment complex known for fun, food, beverages, music, and more. In March 2023, CBD Kratom became the official cannabis partner of Texas Live! As part of the partnership, Texas Live! renamed its outdoor pavilion “CBD Kratom Backyard.”
Now, the partnership is moving to its next phase, which includes the selling of various CBD products at Texas Live! events, according to Jason Brandl, chief operating officer of CBD Kratom, NBC 5 DFW reported.
Some of the cannabis-infused products that will be sold at the venue include CBD caramel, CBD taffy, and CBD gummies, among other products.
“We’ve decided to try selling at these events rather than just handing out merch or free items,” Brandl told NBC 5. “We will be selling CBD products to start — so our CBD-infused lollipops, gummies, different things like that.”
CBD Kratom is an independently owned cannabis and kratom retail chain in the United States. The company operates over 50 retail locations in Chicago, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. The company also runs eight locations in the Dallas area.
In total, the company offers more than 600 cannabis products and more than 50 strains of pure kratom and kratom specialty products.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, kratom is a tropical evergreen leaf native to Southeast Asia. Products derived from kratom leaves can produce stimulant-like effects and are commonly sold as herbal supplements.
“Certainly, we do have some products that have what we would call a psychotropic effect — often a head or body high that people are familiar with — that can come from cannabis or marijuana, and so we do have products that will have that. We also have products that don’t,” Brandl said, per NBC 5.
Some consumers of kratom products may experience adverse side effects from the substance, according to Dr. Randall Dwenger, a board-certified psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Mountainside Treatment Center in Connecticut.
“We’ve also seen some psychiatric confusion [with kratom use],” said Dwenger, Forbes reported. “Not necessarily psychosis, but it does mimic some psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorders, sometimes.”
“If you drink it, it slows down the heart and affects your central nervous system and can damage your kidneys and liver,” he added, noting that additional studies are needed to understand the full effects.
The Dallas Express contacted CBD Kratom to learn more about the specific products it planned to sell and at which specific shows they would be available but had yet to hear back by the time of publishing.