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CBD Health Benefits and Usages

CBD Health Benefits and Usages

CBD Uses and Applications

CBD is gaining popularity among our four-legged friends. More companies are producing pet-specific products to address pain, seizures, inflammation, and appetite issues in cats and dogs. The American Veterinary Medical Association does not have an official position on cannabis and pets, for it is still illegal for veterinarians to recommend cannabis to treat patients. This has not stopped pet owners across the country, who are using the hemp-derived CBD treats on the market to treat pain and cancer symptoms in their animal companions. CBD is not approved as a treatment for pets according to the FDA, so companies need to be careful in how they market their products. The FDA has warned companies to change the language of their marketing away from promoting an “unapproved new animal drug.”

CBD is also gaining attention in alternative and mainstream medical circles. One year after Weed aired, the waiting list for the CBD products that treated Charlotte Figi’s Dravet Syndrome was more than 12,000 families. Researchers in Israel are delving deeply into research around epilepsy looking for a to see if cannabinoids like CBD may offer benefit.

Research published by NCBI titled, Cannabinoids as novel anti-inflammatory drugs, examines “effects of cannabinoids on immune cell populations.” This research is promising and shows a new openness by legacy institutions to new botanical therapies.

Further, scientists and researchers are looking at how cannabindoids can possibly accelerate the death of undesirable or diseased cells as described by the authors in this medical journal.

 There are numerous, hopeful personal accounts of people who have treated themselves with botanical remedies, and while promising, the science is still early. Research has largely been limited to preclinical studies carried out on animals. Rigorous clinical studies need to be done in order to push the science forward and further the role of cannabis in the medical mainstream.

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What is CBD?

Cannabinoids are the chemical compounds made by the cannabis plant that unlock its many healing secrets. There are over 100 known cannabinoids and these chemicals imitate the endocannabinoids naturally produced by humans. Do you know the shiny crystals you see on cannabis buds? Those are trichomes and that’s where cannabinoids are stored.
Human bodies (and many animals) have endocannabinoid systems, meaning that cannabinoids are naturally made so they can bind to endocannabinoid receptors creating changes in our physiology.

What does that mean?

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The endocannabinoid system was discovered only recently — in 1990. It is found throughout the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system and its job is to regulate the body, creating homeostasis or equilibrium in several processes. Homeostasis is the tendency of organisms to auto-regulate and balances their internal environment. Have you ever wondered how your body maintains a 98.6-degree temperature despite your activity level? Could you imagine if you had to think about maintaining your internal temperature? Thanks to the vitally important process of homeostasis, you don’t.

In today’s article, we’re going to break down the top 10 cannabinoids and how they help you. But first, let’s take a look at one of the main distinguishing factors when evaluating cannabinoids.

Cannabinoids can bind to receptor sites in either the brain (CB-1) or the body (CB-2). Cannabinoids will produce different effects on the body depending on which type of receptor site they bind to. Cannabis strains are filled with multiple cannabinoids that when consumed, bind to these sites, creating a symphony of effects on the body and thus corresponding to the wide variety of healing properties that we’ve read about scientifically and anecdotally. This is why one plant can treat many different conditions.

This is why states have multiple, unrelated qualifying medical conditions for a medical card. The combination of cannabinoids can drastically change your experience.

But that’s not all. Cannabinoids actually begin as cannabinoid acids that are activated when heated. This heat based activation, also known as decarboxylation, removes the acid from the molecule, turning it into a bioavailable compound that the body can register. The decarboxylated molecule is often more powerful and produces a different effect on the body than the acidic version. This is why you see both “THCA” and “THC” when looking at the contents of a cannabis strain.

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Is It Legal?

This November, at least nine states will decide whether to legalize either the recreational or medical use of cannabis, including populous California and Massachusetts. Twenty-four states have removed barriers to researching industrial hemp. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015 has been proposed in Congress. This bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act to remove hemp from the definition of marijuana and subsequently open the doors to research and production. Several years after CNN’s Weed, more and more people are stepping forward with their stories of how CBD has positively treated their medical conditions and overall quality of life. As legalization marches forward, science will follow suit and we will learn more about the vast benefits of this cannabinoid. We are just scratching the surface in our understanding of the powers of this plant. Staying informed and deciding what’s best for you is vital as politics and medicine catch up with nature.