All About CBD You Wanted to Know

For pain, inflammation and great skin care, people and pets have a natural, effective alternative to pharmaceuticals thanks to the medicinal benefits of cannabidiol (CBD). All About CBD looks at this therapeutic compound, and why it’s different from its psychoactive sibling.

CBD does not, can not, get you high even though its sibling, Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), does. They both come from the same plant, cannabis sativa, which is why it took so long for CBD to become legal.

Does CBD get you high?

We know the history since then, that CBD is legal in all 50 states with the 2018 Farm Bill. Now CBD products can be purchased in gas stations and grocery stores. All About CBD will show why this substance became legal, why it’s beneficial to all and how it’s life-changing to many.

CBD products

Today we benefit from CBD in tonics and tinctures as well as topicals like lotions, butters and bath bombs. CBD gummies and other edibles of all kinds. There’s 0% THC hemp flower to be smoked, crumble for dabs and carts for vapes. There’s even CBD pet care!

What CBD treats

The only things we can say research has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that CBD has some key therapeutic benefits. And, while much is still speculation, there is anecdotal evidence out the wazoo (and is finally being critically examined by scientists) for eight key areas.

Pain and inflammation – arthritis, swelling and other chronic conditions
Anxiety and depression – PTSD and other neuropsychiatric disorders
Epilepsy and other neurological disorders – seizures, tremors and other effects
Cancer treatment symptoms – reduces nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy and radiation
Acne and other skin issues – topical CBD acts as anti acne agent as well as helps itch and inflammation from eczema and psoriasis
High blood pressure– resting blood pressure is reduced, perhaps because of CBD’sanxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) and analgesic (pain-reducing) effects
Addiction – shows promise fighting opioid, tobacco and other addictions
Diabetes – people who use cannabis have lower fasting insulin levels and insulin resistance and CBD may play a key role

How CBD started

Cannabis was first recorded as a medicinal substance in 2737 BC in ancient China to treat malaria, rheumatism and gout. It’s been used throughout human history by all classes, including royalty. Queen Victoria reportedly used cannabis to alleviate menstrual cramps.

An Irish physician who was denied a medical license in the UK was the first person to document the medicinal properties of cannabis. Working abroad as an assistant surgeon for the East India Trading Company, William Brooke O’Shaughnessy started the path to CBD.

It would be nearly a century later that scientists would begin researching the most important plant known to man. It’s the only species that produces cannabinoids, substances used by all mammals for complete body balance. Our bodies even produce their own, just like hemp.

But greed, ignorance and politics (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive) put their obstructive feet down and would have their cumulative say first. Cannabis and CBD were known and yet, would be aggressively kept from us under false pretenses.

Cannabinoid pharmacology

At the turn of the 20th Century, it’s reported that between two and five percent of the U.S. was addicted to morphine. It was the secret ingredient in many available, labeled drugs. These ‘patent medicines’ lead to the FDA which ultimately lead to 50 years of research stifling.

In the 1940s, chemists in Britain and then America first identified the chemical properties of cannabis, including the isolation of CBD and THC. This research ultimately led to the discovery of why one cannabinoid was an intoxicant and the other was not.

CBD science breakthrough

In 1963, American scientist Dr. Ralph Mechoulam made the first breakthrough in individual cannabinoid effects. He was the one to discover CBD was not psychoactive. His breakthrough research began studying the effects of CBD on seizures.

Mechoulam and team gave daily doses of CBD to study a group of eight subjects. After just four months of treatment, half stopped having seizures and the others exhibited a decrease in seizure frequency. Huge news that could affect millions went unknown because of stigma.

The endocannabinoid system

It wasn’t until 1987 that science discovered cells in mammals that specifically bind with cannabinoids and affect memory, high cognition, emotion and motor coordination. In 1993, another special cannabinoid receptor was discovered, CB2, to which CBD binds.

As science discovered the relationship of receptors on nearly every cell in the body, they learned that our bodies produce their own cannabinoids, called endocannabinoids. These interact with CB1 and CB2 receptors in the same way that cannabis compounds do.

We’re still learning, due to shortsightedness. But what we know is the endocannabinoid system, or ECS, regulates everything… literally, every major body system. CB1 receptors are mainly found in the central nervous system and brain, and CB2 receptors are heavy in the organs.