CBD Information — What's All This Buzz About....

Have you noticed that there is CBD in everything lately? CBD creams, CBD gummies, CBD added to beverages and food. What is CBD anyway and what is legal? It can seem a bit complicated so let’s see if I can simplify it. I listened to a CBD Health Revolution Summit recently hosted by Mary Clifton, MD and much of the following information is from that summit.

CBD is the abbreviation for cannabidiol, a non psychoactive chemical in the cannabis plant. In other words, it doesn’t make you “high” and it is generally legal to ship it in the US from state to state. It is extracted from the cannabis plant as well as other chemicals such as terpenes, THC and other cannabinoids. (CBD,CBDV, CBG, CBC, CBN). They all have some therapeutic effects and beneficial uses for various health conditions that is backed with research too extensive to list here.

THC is the abbreviation for tetrahydrocannabinol which is the psychoactive part of the cannabis plant. It is also called marijuana or pot. This component of the plant is not legal in all US states. Some states allow use of medical marijuana and others also allow recreational use of THC.

Hemp plants are cannabis plants that contain less than 0.3% THC, while other cannabis plants contain higher amounts of THC and are used to extract CBD and THC. www.healthline.com The two common varieties of cannabis plants are cannabis indica and cannabis sativa.

It is interesting that we each have an internal cannabinoid system called the endocannabinoid system (ES) that responds to about 60 different chemical compounds in cannabis. Within this system there are cannabinoid receptors, endocannabinoids that the body makes and enzymes that make and breakdown the endocannabinoids. The role of ES is homeostasis. The two types of receptors are called CB1 and CB2 and are located in different parts of the body. CB1 is mostly in the brain and is involved in many of the psychoactive effects. CB2 receptors are more prevalent in the rest of the body. Reference: Cannabis: Myths, Benefits and Barriers from GreenMedinfo

Cannabis contains more than 480 natural compounds. Of those, 66 have been classified as cannabinoids. Cannabidiol or CBD is the most abundant, accounting for up to 40%. The strongest psychoactive chemical is THC or tetrahydrocannabinol. Terpenes are other compounds present in the plant and up to 100 terpenes have been found in cannabis.

When CBD and THC are combined, the CBD helps to temper the psychoactivity of the THC and the THC boosts the therapeutic effect of CBD. Cannabis also contains flavonoids that act as antioxidants in the body. For these reasons, the whole plant extracts are much more effective than isolated chemical parts of the plant. And just because a product says whole plant extract, doesn’t mean it contains THC.

The GreenMedInfo website has 476 abstracts discussing benefits for different diseases. A report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine: “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research” is based on an analysis of more than 10,000 cannabis studies showing substantial benefits in many medical conditions.

Some of the conclusions from this report are:

There is conclusive or substantial evidence that cannabis/cannabinoids are an effective treatment in the areas of chronic pain, muscle spasms from multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and for nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy.

There is less evidence that smoking marijuana has some anti-inflammatory benefits.

Early onset of marijuana use is not associated with poor health outcomes as an adult. The idea that pot is a “gateway drug” to opioids or other drugs is fully disproven.

Pregnant women should abstain from marijuana due to increased pregnancy complications and low birth weight babies.

Driving under the influence of marijuana increases the risk of a motor vehicle accident.

There is still much that we do not know about cannabis but the fact that research is underway is hopeful.

As I said before, hemp comes from the same plant but a different part of the plant and a plant that is bred for industrial purposes such as paper, clothing, oils and topical ointments and contains less than 0.3% THC. When the plant is bred for marijuana production, it may contain as much as 30% THC.

If you decide to try a CBD product, the challenge is finding a good quality product. Some commonly available CBD products may not be grown organically and so may contain pesticides. You want a whole plant product to get the benefits of all of the terpenes and flavonoids. The three important things to look for are:

1. organically grown, pesticide free 2. whole plant product and 3. third party testing to confirm purity

Personal Experience:

I have tried CBD products for sleep. I initially felt that they were not doing much, but the challenge is figuring out what dose you respond to. I have purchased them from health food stores and grocery stores and local dispensaries (legal in Oregon). But I never really knew if I was buying quality. I also tried a CBD:THC tincture when I was desperate to get sleep and it was helpful and didn’t make me feel high. But I can’t legally travel with that! But then after the CBD summit I spoke of earlier, Mary Clifton, MD made a recommendation for a company that sells CBD and that she has vetted herself and it meets the 3 criteria listed above. It is called Prosper Wellness https://store.prosperwellness.co . The interesting thing about this company is that they recommend using a loading dose that they describe as jumpstarting your endocannabinoid system to be more receptive to CBD. So I bought their CBD tincture and am in the process of taking the loading doses. It does seem to help to take higher doses than what the bottle says, but everyone responds differently, so starting low and going slow is prudent. Another brand that my naturopath recommended is Procana Hemp Excel whole plant extract. I have had benefit from that as well as long as I took higher doses.

This is in no way meant to be medical advice, only educational information, so please discuss with your medical provider of choice before purchasing. I am also not an affiliate of any company mentioned and do not have financial connections with anyone mentioned.

There is much that I did not cover, but hopefully the resources listed will be helpful if you choose to do further research for yourself.