CBD is the shortened name for cannabidiol. Its most well-known form is an oil extracted from the hemp plant. Hemp is a close cousin to Cannabis Sativa (Marijuana). As a stand-alone chemical compound, one of close to a hundred found in hemp, CBD does not get people high.
A new and welcome healer in town.
The popularity of CBD oil is growing because thousands report relief from a variety of symptoms, including sleep disorders, anxiety, and chronic pain. The World Health Organization has issued a report that says there are no health-related risks to using CBD.
Although many people think of it as marijuana and in their minds placed it in the illicit drug category, so far all the testing shows zero evidence of problems using the hemp derivative. Good news for possible medical applications.
CBD gets confused with THC. The chemical compound found in marijuana that creates the high. The two compounds are different and people need to think of them as related but unique.
They each cause a different reaction in the body. THC alters the mind. CBD does not. People are more relaxed and enjoy increased focus. CBD reduces anxiety, whereas THC can produce higher levels of unease.
The human body produces endocannabinoids. They act like a neurotransmitter, which sends messages from the brain to the body. Endocannabinoids send messages from the body to the brain to balance the body’s systems. The Cannabinoids in CBD mimic the chemicals the body produces.
One of the most promising discoveries for human health and the strongest evidence to date of CBD’s possibilities is its effect on seizure disorders like epilepsy.
When did CBD get its start?
Most people think of CBD as something new to medicine, but it has been around since the 1940s. A chemist named Roger Adams was the first to extract CBD from Marijuana, except he didn’t know what he’d done until a few years later.
Dr. Walter S. Lowe came into the picture in 1946 and conducted the tests on lab animals using CBD. This was the first evidence the chemical compound did not alter the brain or mental state.
Often thought of as the man who discovered CBD, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, also in 1946, began the research that identified the three-dimensional structure of CBD. About twenty years later, he conducted further research on primates.
Dr. Mechoulam is also the man who, in 1980, found that CBD held the potential to treat epilepsy.
Is CBD legal?
The number of Americans who use CBD is growing. More may come to the table when the legal issues become clearer, and the chemical becomes defined as medicine. The process is well underway. If you’d like to learn more, you can click here to read more.
The law changed when an amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill removed CBD and hemp from being defined as a drug. For decades hemp, and thus CBD, fell under the Controlled Substances Act as illegal.
Hemp and CBD are no longer treated as illegal drugs. In fact, hemp is now officially legal in all 50 states. That doesn’t mean the challenges are over. But the evidence seems clear that CBD is here to stay.
Advocates expect things to move forward even further when people become more educated on the benefits and the stigma of the relationship to Marijuana fades into the past.
What does the future hold for CBD?
The future is always uncertain. Because the CBD business is growing and has reached the $Billion mark. The Food and Drug Administration most likely will create policies controlling the standards of producing a safe product. And that is as it should be. Consumers need to know what they are purchasing is safe. Certain minimum regulations are already in effect. It varies from state to state. For the time being, it is safe to purchase those CBD-related products which went through proper Cannabinoid potency testing by some CDPHE certified laboratories.
Science is still hard at work researching and conducting experiments to open new avenues to the benefits possible from CBD.
Their results so far show promising treatments for several serious illnesses. The list includes arthritis, insomnia, epileptic seizures, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.
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