By now you know the incredible power of cannabidiol (CBD) — a non-psychoactive ingredient found in the cannabis plant. This powerful cannabinoid has been in the spotlight ever since TV doctor Sanjay Gupta extolled its virtues in a 2013 news special on CNN.
But even before Dr. Gupta’s investigation, the medicinal efficacy of cannabis has been proven in countless studies.
According to Project CBD:
Scientific and clinical research—much of it sponsored by the US government—underscores CBD’s potential as a treatment for a wide range of conditions, including arthritis, diabetes, alcoholism, MS, chronic pain, schizophrenia, PTSD, depression, antibiotic-resistant infections, epilepsy, and other neurological disorders. CBD has demonstrable neuroprotective and neurogenic effects, and its anti-cancer properties are currently being investigated at several academic research centers in the United States and elsewhere. Further evidence suggests that CBD is safe even at high doses.
-
Related Story: The Only CBD User’s Manual You Need
And yet another report, this one published in the latest edition of the journal “Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research,” concluded:
CBD was well tolerated with no reported side effects. … No impairments to cognition were found, nor were there deleterious effects on psychological function. Importantly, participants reported significantly fewer depressive and psychotic-like symptoms … and exhibited improvements in attentional switching, verbal learning, and memory. … Greater benefits were observed in dependent than in nondependent cannabis users.
Prolonged CBD treatment appears to have promising therapeutic effects for improving psychological symptoms and cognition in regular cannabis users. Our findings require replication given the lack of a placebo control in this pragmatic trial, but suggest that CBD may be a useful adjunct treatment for cannabis dependence.
Dr. Taz Bhatia, an integrative health expert, agrees. “CBD is showing promise as a pain reliever, epilepsy treatment, and for wasting disease associated with cancer. It’s being promised to cure everything from anxiety to acne.”
-
Related Story: 8 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Marijuana’s CBD
“That’s the curious thing about CBD: It can treat nearly everything,” O’Dea told Women’s Health. “Not in a miracle cure, ‘it’s gone!’ kind of way, but in a calibration type of way, slowly tilting you back to center.”
