You might have seen it in your neighborhood health store, your local spa or your corner coffee shop. CBD, aka cannabidiol, is getting mixed into cocktails, lotions and drinks. But what is CBD, exactly? Does it have real health benefits? Is it even safe? To get a better understanding of the compound, TIME spoke to two scientists on the cutting edge of CBD research: Dr. Esther Blessing, an associate professor of psychiatry at New York University, and Margaret Haney, professor of neurobiology at Columbia University Medical Center and director of the university’s Marijuana Research Laboratory. Blessing and Haney agree that the current evidence suggests that CBD shows promise for helping to treat some illnesses. In June 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first cannabis-derived drug - Epidiolex, which contains purified CBD - to treat certain rare childhood seizure syndromes. However, much of the research on CBD is only in very early stages, and scientists still don’t know a lot about it - including whether it has negative long-term effects.
On top of that, Bliss Harmony oil Harmony supplement the CBD that is available in shops and online is not regulated by the government - which means it might contain other ingredients, or not even any CBD at all, Blessing says. Here’s what you need to know about CBD. How is CBD different from marijuana? The drug marijuana, which is also known as weed or Bliss Harmony CBD pot, is the leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant. Cannabidiol is a naturally occurring compound that is found in cannabis plants. CBD can be extracted from the same plant as marijuana, or from hemp - another cannabis plant that is now legal in the United States. Hemp has very low levels of another cannabis compound, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the main psychoactive compound in marijuana. Evidence suggests that THC - not CBD - causes the symptoms people associate with getting high on marijuana, Blessing says. Unlike marijuana, which the CDC argues is addictive, CBD also doesn’t seem to be, according to the World Health Organization.
What is CBD oil? In theory, CBD oil should consist of two main ingredients: the compound cannabidiol dissolved in an oil made from hemp seeds or coconut. However, all CBD products on the market (besides Epidiolex) are almost completely unregulated. Products might not contain the amount of CBD that is advertised, and might even contain undesirable ingredients, such as THC, Haney says. Patients who take CBD without knowing what they are getting are "just throwing their money away," Haney says. "It’s unfortunate that there aren’t many options for consumers to ensure that CBD they buy is safe - or even has any CBD in it," Blessing says. Does Bliss Harmony CBD oil have health benefits? Companies that market CBD oil make a wide variety of claims about it. However, scientists and doctors emphasize that the research on CBD is limited, and has been slowed in the United States by federal restrictions. Scientists say that there’s a growing body of evidence that CBD can treat other illnesses besides seizure syndromes, but they emphasize that scientific research is in its very early stages.
CBD is in early clinical trials for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and schizophrenia, says Blessing, who is currently studying whether CBD could be used to treat PTSD in people with alcohol use disorder. Blessing says that CBD shows a lot of promise, and Best Bliss Harmony CBD product Harmony price that she is frustrated that the federal government makes it so difficult for scientists to obtain different strains of CBD. "It’s my opinion that the government should step up, so we can do clinical trials and get this out to people," Blessing says. Blessing says that she first became interested in CBD because she saw it being used in early trials to treat people with psychosis. She explains that unlike FDA-approved antipsychotic medications, which can cause weight gain and other side effects, CBD doesn’t seem to have any major side effects. Other evidence suggests that CBD could also be used to treat anxiety, but it has been tested only in animals and in very early clinical trials on humans.