CBD pot delivers the health benefits without the high. Illustration by David Bonn.
Research into CBD-rich cannabis continues. Martin Lee recently attended a conference in Germany where scientists presented new information documenting CBD’s ability to stop the proliferation of colon cancer cells and to limit traumatic brain injury caused by strokes. “Using cannabis in any form can have positive health benefits, regardless of the user’s intention,” says Lee. “CBD-rich pot is especially powerful.”
Yet CBD-high weed is still very difficult to source, even in California, where new cannabis strains are developed as often as wine varietals. With the recent forced closure of so many dispensaries, those left standing struggle to keep a steady CBD supply. Royce Park admits his Sebastopol dispensary can’t obtain enough of it to satisfy demand, as cultivators have yet to catch on to this less psychotropic pot. While CBD continues to show immense promise in the lab, cannabis remains firmly entombed in the federal government’s airless mausoleum of Schedule I controlled substances, while speed and meth are granted the lesser classification of Schedule II, and alcohol, in seeming disregard of the number of crimes and deaths associated with its use, is hardly controlled at all.
It appears that cannabis researchers and activists will continue to push legitimate medical science up a steep bureaucratic hill for a long time. Still, there is hope.
“Facts don’t necessarily influence policymakers,” says McAllister, “but I do believe that over time, facts will push government policy in the right direction.”
Lee agrees.
“The science shows that CBD is a potent medicine,” he says. “It is also a potent myth-buster. It explodes the myth that medical marijuana is just for stoners.”
It’s a sentiment we might do well to put in our pipes and smoke.
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