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?
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.
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
- 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
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
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
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
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.