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CBD- The Other Healing Cannabinoid

Everyone knows about THC- it's the chemical in Cannabis that gets you high, and has a number of documented medical uses. However, because it makes you feel "much too good", many politicians and some doctors are against it. But there is more to Cannabis than plain old "get you high as a kite" THC. There are hundreds of chemicals in natural Cannabis. CBD, cannabidiol, is one of them.

As a psychoactive, get-you-stoned chemical, CBD is one great big flop! Almost no bounce to the ounce! A gentle "mellowing" effect is about the most you can expect even from a massive dose of CBD. But because it comes from the Cannabis plant, our government has banned it.

As a Cannabis plant grows, it produces a chemical that changes into either THC or CBD, depending on the plant's genetics. The recreational/medical strains are high in THC, but are usually very low in CBD. Fiber hemp plants tend to be the opposite- high in CBD with little or no THC.

CBD has many medical uses, and next to THC, it is the most studied of the natural cannabinoids. A 2005 study used CBD and delayed the onset of a form of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in mice. In 2007, neuroscientist Dr. Mary Abood used a THC/CBD mixture and conducted a similar experiment. To her amazement-

"The treatment delayed disease progression by more than seven days and extended survival by six days. In human terms, this would amount to about three years. That's a significant improvement over the only existing ALS drug, riluzole, which extends life by two months."

Three years versus two months! What would ALS sufferers give for an extra three years of symptom-free life? If you had ALS, given the choice, would you choose the "conventional" treatment of riluzole, or would you try Cannabis? Could the two compliment each other giving even better results? Why are there are no studies on this?

In addition to slowing ALS, studies reveal that CBD can also affect cancer cells of many types. Breast cancer, leukemia and glioma (a nasty brain cancer) are all slowed, or even killed by CBD. The glioma studies are very interesting since the CBD attacked only the cancerous brain cells, while leaving healthy brain cells untouched.

Cells normally die through a process called apoptosis. Normal cells die after going through their programmed lifetime- but cancer cells refuse to die and multiply rapidly. CBD "tells" the abnormal cancer cells that it is time to die. The normal cells don't need to be "told" and are left alone. Aside from feeling relaxed, there are no noticeable effects from CBD, even with very large doses.

On the other hand, chemotherapy is using poisons that are slightly more toxic to cancer cells than healthy cells. The idea is to poison you just enough so the cancer cells die, while you, as an organism, live. A lot of healthy cells die in the process. It makes you very sick.

Which treatment sounds better to you?

Diabetes has been described as an "epidemic" in the US. And once again, CBD can help. The title of this study sums it up- "Cannabidiol lowers incidence of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice". Mice and humans usually react similarly to drugs, which is why we use mice as lab animals.

There have been several studies showing that CBD and other cannabinoids can help protect vision and prevent blindness caused by diabetes. And then there's diabetic neuropathy, a major complication of diabetes, that shows up as numbness, tingling or pain in the extremities. CBD is an effective neuroprotectant- it stops the damage. Conventional treatments for neuropathic pain are rather limited. Why shouldn't all diabetics be given CBD to prevent nerve damage and blindness before it happens?

Heart disease is another major problem in Western society. When a person has a heart attack, damage can happen to the heart muscle. Our bodies produce a chemical, anandamide, that helps protect the heart when a heart attack happens, but the body has limit on how much of anything it can crank out on short notice. CBD can chemically "fill in" for anandamide and prevent further damage from occurring.

I know some of you are having trouble believing this, so please, don't take my word on it, read it for yourself! Here is the title- "Cannabidiol, a nonpsychoactive Cannabis constituent, protects against myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury". A large dose of CBD immediately after a heart attack might help prevent heart damage by safely supplementing the body's own natural anandamide.

Dr. A.W. Zuardi of Brazil did a recent overview of CBD studies and stated "The last five years have shown a remarkable increase in publications on cannabidiol mainly stimulated by the discovery of its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and neuroprotective effects. These studies have suggested a wide range of possible therapeutic effects of cannabidiol on several conditions, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, cerebral ischemia, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, other inflammatory diseases, nausea and cancer."

CBD and the other plant cannabinoids "exhibit very low mammalian toxicity" (McPartland & Russo- "Cannabis and Cannabis Extracts"). That means they are very safe for us to use, especially when compared to many "conventional" medicines. The studies on the uses of CBD are in "Granny Storm Crow's list" for you to read.

Our scientists and doctors should be free to study cannabidiol. But CBD is Cannabis and remains federally illegal, even though you can't get high on it. Reschedule for research!