These days you're almost guaranteed to know someone who sings the praises of CBD. No longer confined to dispensaries, CBD is showing up everywhere from the gas station on the corner to the pet aisle or natural living section of your local grocery store.
Problem is, there's not nearly enough science to back up its spread. However, that's beginning to change, and a study published this month in the Journal of Cannabis Research is contributing to our now growing knowledge of just what this chemical can do.
The study in question, by a handful of European researchers, adds validity to some of the many claims made by CBD proponents.
In recent years, especially since 2018 when CBD was made effectively legal at the federal level in the U.S., the non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis has blown up. The potential benefits it offers have blown up as well, at least in how products containing it are marketed.
The recent study shows that, based upon a review of other reputable studies, CBD has shown promise as an anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) as well as for other mental disorders such as PTSD or sleep issues, but that it has not shown proven therapeutic potential for other issues such as pain relief — something for which CBD is often promoted as a remedy.
This study looked only at purified CBD, which can be best explained as pure CBD and nothing else — smoking weed, for example, is a way to consume CBD, but countless other chemicals and compounds will also be consumed. In that situation, it's hard to specify whether the CBD is responsible for any positive effects or if other chemicals are at play.
The takeaway is that there are potential benefits from CBD consumption. However, there is reason to pump the brakes because this study looked at CBD on its own.
Does CBD from recreational cannabis, which also contains THC among many other cannabinoid chemicals, deliver the same effects? Science may not yet know the answer.
If you believe in these results, the best way to take advantage is to buy CBD from a licensed dispensary. In Washington, they are held to much higher regulatory standards than are the products sold at your local corner or grocery store.
The bottom line, for now, is that CBD has shown promise as a treatment in some areas. Is it the panacea many hope or claim it to be? Science isn't ready to answer that question just yet. ♦
