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Changing the stigma of CBD and cannabis
The BBC has been praised for a new short documentary which sheds a positive light on the chemical compound CBD for anxiety, showing its potential as an effective treatment for stress and anxiety. The mini-video documentary follows anxiety-suffering mum Natalie who recently bought Cannabidiol (CBD) oil online, but has a few questions she wants answered before trying it.As we know, CBD is one of the most popular products in the health and wellness industry at the minute. It’s showing up in everything from chocolate to shampoo as well as being researched in a number of medical studies that are ‘actually seeing some positive results’.
Mum Natalie explains, that just like a lot of other users she is often confused by conflicting advice online and unfortunately for her, there is still a lot of incorrect and/or misleading information surrounding the substance.Another issue many first-time consumer’s face is deciding what brand to choose. Speaking about her online purchase, Natalie explains, “I bought it around 2 months ago and haven’t used it yet. I’m not sure exactly what I’ve bought and how it will interact with me and anything else I’m on”. She admits trying to treat her anxiety with more traditional methods like anti-depressants in the past, but they did ‘not pull her through’.
Visiting industry experts
On her journey, Natalie meets a hemp farmer, a scientist, and tests her purchased product at a laboratory. She reflects on one of the biggest issues facing CBD in the UK at the minute which is the lack of regulatory standards specifically made for CBD products. Lab results found that Natalie’s CBD product also contained just over four times the legal limit of THC currently permitted in the UK. As it stands, the legal limit is 1mg per container, these results however did match the company’s description on the site.
“4mgs of THC isn’t going to do anything notable to a person, you’d have to have a considerable amount of THC in there for there to be a psychoactive response” expresses Simon Manthorpe, Chief Executive of Eos Scientific. The CBD content of her bottle was however pretty much spot on with what the brand claims. Manthorpe went on to say that Natalie should not worry – the THC content was very low and not to fear CBD as a result of this experience. It could simply have been a misinterpretation of the law or an insufficient extraction process that led to these results. “As the industry grows and becomes more mature brands will be explaining better to consumers about their products and making sure that those products comply with all regulations.”
‘A positive perception’
In total, the BBC tested 12 products, 9 of which were found to be over the legal THC level allowed in the UK, while one product did not contain any CBD. On completion of her journey to educate herself on CBD, Natalie admits that her perception of the cannabis-derived substance is looking up and that in future CBD may be able to affect her in a positive way.
For now, she is keeping an open mind but wants to wait until more studies and tests have been completed before trying it herself.
