CBD Deemed Safe with Increasing Evidence of Medical and Nutritional Benefits

CBD in marijuana does not get you “high.” The chemical in marijuana that causes the high (and many of its other effects) is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. But there are over 100 other cannabinoid chemicals in the plant; CBD is one of those. Different cannabinoids can have very different biological effects; CBD is not intoxicating (see Bergamaschi et al. 2011).

CBD first rose to public prominence two years ago as a result of a CNN piece on medical marijuana. However CBD’s potential as a therapeutic agent has been known since at least the 1970s in the US, when its anti-seizure properties were first examined in animal studies. A few clinical trials were also conducted in adults with epilepsy, some showing positive results.

Generating the renewed interest and excitement are the anecdotal reports published by CNN and other media giants that some children with otherwise untreatable severe epilepsies respond well to CBD extracts and oils (please see Porter & Jacobson 2013; Hussain et al. 2015). These developments were largely behind New York recently apporving medical marijauna. A followup to the CNN piece depicted the struggles of parents of children with a seizure condition called Dravet syndrome, who moved their families to Colorado in order to get CBD-rich marijuana legally. Several drug companies have recently developed CBD-based medications, and one of these, called Epidiolex, is now being tested in clinical trials. Epidiolex was developed by GW Pharmaceuticals and has been given to more than 400 children under the FDA’s expanded access (“compassionate use”) program. Drug companies have long known about the benefits of CBD and have filed many patents on synthetic versions likely less effective than the natural CBD extracts.

 

There is reason to believe CBD may have a range of uses in medicine, including in the treatment of seizures and other neurological disorders. In the impassioned, often emotional debates these days over medical marijuana, CBD is often cited as one of the main reasons restrictions on marijuana should be loosened.

A basic understanding of the way cannabinoids affect the body and the brain is helpful to making sense of some of the confusing and contradictory claims made by partisans on either side of those debates. Most cannabinoids (including THC) interact with specific targets on cells in the body, the CB1 and CB2 receptors. CB1 receptors are found mainly in the brain and are important for learning, coordination, sleep, pain, brain development, and other functions; CB2 receptors are found mostly in the immune system. The fact that chemicals in marijuana can speak the body’s chemical language (and cause both beneficial and harmful effects) is not surprising and does not make marijuana special. Many plants, including the opium poppy, tobacco, and coca are similar in that regard. Extracting and amplifying the medicinal benefits of such plants and minimizing their potential harms can lead the way to effective medications, but are also a major scientific challenge.

CBD Cannabidiol

In marijuana’s case, future medicinal uses will most likely lie in drugs based on cannabinoid chemicals or extracts with defined concentrations that can be reliably produced. There are very few precedents for a whole plant being approved as a drug (only two “botanical drugs” are currently approved in the U.S.). This is because creating a standardized plant medicine poses major difficulties — especially in a case like marijuana where there are countless, widely varying strains and large numbers of chemical components about which little is yet known. Marijuana has over 500 chemicals in total, including the 100 or so cannabinoids, so we will still be learning about this plant for years to come. However, we are quickly learning a lot about THC and CBD, and because of its unique properties, CBD, especially, may be poised to make great inroads into our pharmacopoeia.

CBD has very little effect on CB1 and CB2 receptors (please see Pertwee et al. 2008). This is probably why it does not make people high and is not mind-altering; in fact, it may even blunt some of THC’s psychotropic effects. Most marijuana grown for recreational use is very low in CBD content (and high in THC). CBD’s actions in the body are not well understood, but they appear to involve several signaling systems besides the CB receptors, including a serotonin receptor.

Click here to read the full Huffington Post article.

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