Cannabis is such a hemp plant which is the topic of debates and controversies these days. Marijuana is another name of cannabis has all sorts of social and historical connotations that basically revolve around getting stoned or high. But weed doesn’t mean always to get you high. There is a substance or compound in weed that has properties which benefit for medical patients, without the feeling of high and compound is CBD. While THC is the popular compound in the marijuana plant, cannabidiol or CBD is THC’s non-hallucinogenic buddy. The high, people get from weed or kief is caused by a specific and well-known compound in the plant called Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Its brother, CBD doesn’t possess any of the mind-altering, mood-changing properties that THC Syrup does, and thus get a lot less attention. Many recreational users want the high, but people who have cancer, maybe don’t. Many people want to get the benefits of medical marijuana and as they can buy weed online in Canada but they don’t want to be locked on the couch in their room. To understand these CBD-specific benefits, we have to understand how cannabis works in the brain.
A marijuana plant contains over 104 different chemical compounds called cannabinoids that act on the body’s endocannabinoid system. This system modulates all sorts of mind-body functions. For example, if you’re in pain it keeps your body from going haywire and this is called downregulation. It downregulates stress-related signals that lead to inflammation and pain. It also works in your immune system and elsewhere in the body. There are two main receptors that these cannabinoids bind to named CB1 and CB2. When a cannabinoid like THC hits the body, it acts on the CB 1 receptor and affects memory, concentration, and coordination. It gets you high. When a cannabinoid like CBD hits the body, it doesn’t act on CB-receptors but hits other, pain receptors that affect pain perception, anxiety, inflammation and much more. Thus, it doesn’t get you high. Considering these benefits officials in Canada established an online dispensary Canada where users can get easy access to cannabis.
CBD and THC both have different structure although they have similar makeup so scientists suspect that they affect the brain differently. So, of all these promising applications, CBD is most famous for its potential to treat pediatric epilepsy or more importantly the seizures that are inherent to children with epilepsy. To put it simply, a seizure happens when the brain’s electricity spikes and the brain’s circuitry freezes. One parent described their son’s seizures like “an overtaxed electrical grid.” Researchers haven’t fully identified the mechanisms underlying CBD’s capabilities to reduce these seizures, but scientists think CBD may improve the function of the endocannabinoid system, somehow. Then it can regulate the central nervous system and protect against the convulsive activity. There are fewer pieces of evidence to support the statement that CBD is beneficial for pediatric epilepsy.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that children with a complex form of epilepsy who took CBD saw a 23 percent greater reduction in convulsive seizures than those taking a placebo. Researchers used a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial for this which the gold-standard for trials. It decides the future of CBD as a medicine. There’s a lot we still need to figure out about CBD, but more research is hard to do. At the end of 2016, CBD was declared a Schedule 1 drug, in part, because THC and CBD are both in the same plant. The DEA says it’s easier to keep track of CBD if it’s regulated in this way, but after recent studies, we’re starting to see medicinal benefits of CBD similar to dbol. And Schedule I-ing a drug stymies research because scientists have to go through an incredible amount of bureaucratic hoop-jumping to get access to it. At this point, scientists still have to prove that it’s safe and well-tolerated, with a set dosage and a known list of side effects. Hopefully, the scientific process will continue to run its course, even within the limitations.
