Sitting at the crossroads of THC and CBD – CBD helps with sleep and pain. Could it be right for you?
Marijuana is been proven a benefit to the medical world and the American Medical Association, Health and Human Services, the American College of Physicians and the Food and Drug administration all support increasing it’s reach and for more research. It has been shown to be particularly helpful with chronic pain, nausea, and sleep. The cannabis plant provide a variety of cannabinols, including CBD, marijuana and CBN. But the medical question is CBN right for you? It sits at the crossroads between CBD and THC can be useful with health issues.
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Like CBD and THC, CBN is among the 100+ molecules in the cannabis plant. When THC is heated and exposed to CO2 (oxygen), it converts to CBN. The compound is said to have a mild psychoactive effect, slightly more so than CBD but much less than THC. Specifically, it is said to have a sedating effect on most users and to have promising sleep aid applications, similar to melatonin (among other potential uses).
The marketing of CBN as a dietary supplement may be viable, provided that no unapproved health claims are made and could be nationally legal as long as they have a THC concentration of 0.3% or less. Unlike CBN and like THC, CBN is legal in some states, but not federally. The FDA likes to point out that the 2018 Farm Bill explicitly preserved FDA’s authority to regulate products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds under the Food Drug & Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) and section 351 of the Public Health Service Act. But the marketing of CBN as a dietary supplement may be viable nonetheless, provided that no unapproved health claims are made.
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Unlike CBD, CBN not been approved as a drug, and FDA itself has acknowledged “parts of the cannabis plant that do not contain THC or CBD might fall outside the scope of the [drug exclusion rule].” As with CBG, if CBN is approved as a drug at some point down the line, it also seems likely that the drug exclusion rule would not apply: this is because the rule contains an exception for substances marketed as foods or dietary supplements prior to any FDA clinical investigation. People are already marketing CBN products as foods and dietary supplements.
But the question is still, is CBN right for you? With regards to sleep, it is can be a bit stronger than CBD alone. While melatonin is a known as a good over the counter sleep aid, it doesn’t work for everyone.
A clinical study looked into sleep improvements from 15 mg of CBD with or without 15 mg of CBN compared with 5 mg of melatonin. In the study, all groups reported improved sleep quality, and there were no significant differences between products. Since this study didn’t look at CBN alone, it isn’t a direct comparison. But it seems to indicate that products containing an equal amount of CBD and CBN are similarly effective to melatonin for sleep. And adding a CBD/CBN product to melatonin didn’t provide any added benefit.
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CBN use showed relief in muscle and joint pain conditions with inflammation. Limited studies show The study also noted that pain relief was better when CBD and CBN were used together.
So CBN can be helpful if you need a little extra in over the counter help.
