WEBVTT - Does CBD Oil Really Work? 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:07.000 Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:09.639 Lauren bog Obam here. If you're at all plugged into 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.799 trendy health and wellness culture, you've probably heard of c 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.840 b D oil, the cannabis extract that doesn't get you 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.439 high but has been touted as a potential remedy for 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.440 everything from anxiety, to aches and pains and insomnia. At 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:24.880 your local health food store or on the internet, you 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.080 can find it in the form of drops, capsules, and 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.040 edible gummies. Some baristas are using it as an ingredient 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.599 in latte's, and hip bars are mixing it with alcohol 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.800 to serve up cb D cocktails. There's even CBD toast 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:39.159 and CBD facial masks and spas. But there's more to 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:43.159 CBD than hipster hype. P d X, a drug containing CBD, 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.280 was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.040 for treatment of seizures related to too rare forms of epilepsy, 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.199 and a growing number of studies suggests that it may 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:56.000 be useful in treating other disorders as well. And remarkably, 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.560 that's all happening even though cb D remains technically illegal 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:01.880 at the FED oral level, with the exception of the 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.680 epilepsy medication mentioned above. However, that prohibition, at least for now, 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.720 is not being aggressively enforced, and at the state level, 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:14.039 CBDs legality varies. But underneath all of the hype, what 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.600 is CBD oil anyway? Cannaby e all or cb D 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.120 is a chemical compound that can be extracted from the 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:25.320 cannabis plant. Unlike delta nine tetrahydrocannabinal or th HC, which 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:27.640 is the chemical ingredient that may lead a pot smoker 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:30.440 to get the giggles or play in terminable air guitar solos, 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.720 CBD does not get a user stoned. Th HC and 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.960 cb D have vastly different effects, according to cannabis researcher 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.680 Joshua Kaplan, an assistant professor in the Behavioral Neuroscience program 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.320 at Western Washington University. Unlike t HC, which gets its 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:49.760 effect from acting upon certain cannabinoid receptors in the nervous system, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.000 cb D has sixty five known targets in the brain 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:57.160 and body. Kaplan says, for example, CBD activates the same 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.400 serotonin receptors that are acted upon by selective so tonein 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:04.080 reuptake inhibitors, or s sr eyes, which are a frequently 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:08.320 prescribed class of antidepressant medications. The CBD does not interact 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.640 with those receptors in exactly the same way, but the 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:15.160 serotonin system does seem key in treating anxiety. CBDs effect 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.280 on multiple systems in the brain and body make it 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.760 a potentially useful treatment for a wide range of different conditions, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:24.639 from inflammation and migraines to spasms caused by multiple sclerosis. 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.799 Kaplan says, but that doesn't necessarily mean that CBD is 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.320 a panacea. While there have been large, well designed studies 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.119 on CBD as a treatment for different types of epilepsy, 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.160 much of the information about other possible uses comes from 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.240 anecdotal reports, case reports, case series, and small studies. That's 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.400 according to Timothy Welty, a professor of pharmacy practice and 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.359 chairman of the Department of Clinical Sciences at Drake University 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.960 in Des Moines, Iowa. While sources like those small reports 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:56.280 and studies can provide interesting information, they're also prone to 0:02:56.320 --> 0:03:00.120 placebo effects. Well to explained via email, he said, they 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.560 are often not reproducible. The situations that are described are 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.800 usually not well controlled to demonstrate the effect of CBD 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.480 and eliminate potential confounding factors. For this reason, they are 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.600 not considered as strong evidence for the efficiency of a drug. Additionally, 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.400 the limited scale of that CBD research makes it difficult 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.959 to detect side effects, drug interactions, and other potential problems 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.520 because there are too few patients involved. Wealthy says, but 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.200 many people out there aren't content to wait for more 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:31.960 scientific studies or f D approval of medications containing CBD. Instead, 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.520 they're experimenting with CBD on their own to see if 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.960 it works for whatever ails them. But CBD may not 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.119 work for everything that people want to use it for, 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.360 though some are using it as an insomnia remedy, for example, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.280 there's little evidence that CBD helps people whose sleeplessness isn't 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.840 caused by an impairing symptoms such as anxiety or chronic pain, 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:55.720 Caplan says, and unscientific self experimentation is also a concern 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.240 to researchers such as Kaplan, who explains that different conditions 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.720 might call for very different dosages of CBD. He said 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.000 that the dose range can be quite narrow. For example, 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.560 in a Brazilian study published in eighteen on CBDs effect 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:13.520 in relieving anxiety associated with public speaking. Researchers gave different 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.240 doses of CBD to fifty seven male subjects. They found 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.600 that the dose of three hundred milligrams significantly reduced anxiety 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.159 for subjects, but those who took a hundred and fifty 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.800 milligrams or six hundred milligrams showed no significant difference. Furthermore, 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.080 dosing can be tricky because CBD products of the sort 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.080 sold in health food stores or online are not regulated 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.360 by the f d A. A study published in the 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.920 Journal of the American Medical Association found that nearly sevent 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.200 of CBD products from those sources either had lower or 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:47.480 higher doses than the labels indicated. And for something that's 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.600 so widely available in stores and on the internet, CBDs 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.279 legal status is murky. Even though it doesn't get anyone stoned. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.200 The US Drug Enforcement Administration that's the d e A, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.400 classifies it as a Schedule one controlled inbstance, just like cannabis. 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.040 According to d e A spokesperson Katherine Faff, the agency 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:07.919 doesn't distinguish between c b D extracted from a high 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.000 th HC cannabis plant of the sort grown to produce marijuana, 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:13.840 and cb D that comes from hemp, a form of 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.440 cannabis that contains only a tiny amount of th HC. 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.719 The CBD that's available in health food stores is of 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.520 the hemp variety. In April, the d e a's position 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.240 on cb D that it should be a Schedule one 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.560 substance because it is extracted from cannabis was upheld by 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.320 a federal appeals court, but the judges also noted that 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:37.159 farm legislation passed by Congress in two which allows states 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.440 to experiment with hemp production, could give CBD marketers a 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.840 legal out, providing they can verify that CBD was produced 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.800 from hemp grown in states that have legal hemp programs, 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.200 and in September, the d e A did announce that 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.080 exception for a p d Alex, the FDA approved seizure 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:57.080 medication containing cb D, which it classified as Schedule five, 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.520 the category four medications with a low Potential or abuse. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:02.840 FAFT says that the d e A would do the 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.240 same thing for other CBD drugs that come up through 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:09.880 the FDA pipeline that didn't change CBDs overall classification, though, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.440 although CBD technically remains a controlled substance, the d e 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.360 A is not going out of its way to enforce 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.800 that prohibition, and it's not targeting CBD users. Fath explained, quote, 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:24.680 We're more focused on major drug traffickers and the opioid crisis. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:29.279 That leaves CBD up to individual states whose laws vary. 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.719 According to Justin Struggle, political director and federal lobbyist for 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.560 the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws, CBD 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.320 is definitely in the clear in the nine states plus 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.600 the District of Columbia that have legalized cannabis used for adults, 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.400 and in the thirty one states that have legalized medical cannabis, 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.120 CBD is legal if a person has an authorization form 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.760 from a physician. To other states, Indiana and Kansas have 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.120 passed laws legalizing CBD from hemp, even though they don't 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.840 allow medical or recreational use of cannabis. Streuckle says there 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.560 have been very few instances of consumers actually facing criminal 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:08.359 charges for purchasing CBD derived from hemp. And meanwhile, the 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.440 right Field Group, a market research firm, predicts that CBD 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.920 will be a twenty two billion dollar industry by the 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:22.160 year two. Today's episode was written by Patrick J. Kaiger 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:24.360 and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.760 lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:38.800 Works dot com.