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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020. DISCOVER 21i
No single compound expanded its market in 2019
quite like CBD did. This cannabinoid owns the year’s
bragging rights for new-product diversity, after find-
ing its way into water, lattes, jellybeans, hummus,
cosmetics and even doggie treats.
CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of dozens of biologically
active ingredients called cannabinoids created by Cannabis
sativa plants. CBD only recently earned the most-popular-
cannabinoid title — for decades, the crown more likely
belonged to THC, the euphoria-inducing compound in
marijuana. But not all C. sativa plants contain much THC:
Those that do are considered marijuana, while those that don’t
are called hemp. Now, the Farm Bill of 2018 has made growing
hemp as mainstream as farming corn and soybeans, as long as
derivative products contain no more than 0.3 percent THC.
The bill also spells out federal regulations on cultivating and
producing hemp. And more hemp means more CBD.
Currently, the only FDA-approved CBD-based drug is
Epidiolex, which treats seizures from rare types of epilepsy.
A study published in May found that synthetic versions of
CBD may also work on seizures, based on preliminary studies
in rats. What’s more, researchers announced in June that CBD
might even work as an antibiotic.
But these results are still preliminary. The FDA has not
approved any uses of CBD in food, beverages or dietary sup-
plements — meaning it’s currently illegal for any companies
to claim CBD has medical or therapeutic benefits. Outside
of these uses, CBD is not federally regulated, so products
available to the public can be all over the place in their claims.
In September, the Federal Trade Commission sent letters to
three companies selling CBD-infused products including oils,
capsules and gummies, warning them it was illegal to make
health claims without “competent and reliable” evidence.
Despite the lack of proof, some people are turning to CBD
as a way to self-treat symptoms like anxiety and pain, some-
times as an alternative to opioids. In 2019, big-name storeslike Sephora, Walgreens and CVS started selling products
containing CBD, and celebrities started announcing product
endorsements.
“CBD is perceived as safe and attractive and is gaining
widespread use,” says Simon Haroutounian, chief of clinical
pain research at the Washington University Pain Center in
St. Louis. But even though the market is booming, the quality
of human research is spotty, he says.
Researchers still don’t know how CBD works in terms of
enzymatic pathways — that is, how the body eliminates CBD
after intake. CBD is probably broken down in the liver, says
Haroutounian, but until researchers know which enzymes
are involved, they don’t know how CBD interacts with
other drugs.
It’s also unclear how much CBD reaches the blood after it’s
inhaled or taken orally, and whether enough reaches target
tissues. And researchers still don’t have reliable data on how
often to administer CBD, or in what doses.
“We are not in a very good position to make claims,”
Haroutounian says. “We don’t even know what to tell people
about driving impairment, whether they should avoid driving
after ingesting a particular amount of CBD.”
Although some data support claims that CBD doesn’t pro-
duce the euphoria associated with THC, it’s still psychoactive,
says forensic toxicologist Michelle Peace. “By some accounts,
CBD relieves anxiety and PTSD symptoms, which means that
it has a psychoactive effect,” she says.
If CBD relaxes users, or makes them drowsy, she adds, such
effects can impair driving, similar to a sleeping medication
that would impair the ability to operate a vehicle.SKETCHY SMOKING SICKNESS
As of Oct. 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
had reported over 1,500 cases — 33 of them deaths — across
49 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands of a lung illness associatedThe CBD Cure-All?
BY JEANNE ERDMANNESSAY
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