- Cannabinol, or CBD, may have potent short-term anti-anxiety properties according to a new study.
- The results show that CBD was more effective at reducing anxiety than THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces a high.
- Legal issues make controlled research of CBD difficult, leading to many unresolved questions about the compound found in Cannabis sativa plants.
Cannabis sativa is a complex plant, containing about 750 bioactive compounds.
The most well-known of these is THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical in cannabis that produces an altered mental state or “high.” The plant also contains cannabidiol or CBD.
Most CBD comes from hemp, a form of cannabis that contains
A new study finds that CBD-dominant forms of cannabis appear to have significant anti-anxiety properties. The findings add to a growing body of research suggesting the potential mental health benefits of using CBD.
The study is published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
Anxiety disorders are experienced each year by 40 million Americans over the age of 18. Many studies have looked at using cannabis to help treat anxiety disorders, but robust evidence on efficacy is lacking.
For the study, researchers wanted to compare the effects of CBD versus THC on anxiety symptoms. They examined a sample of 300 people, with 42 people who had never ingested any cannabis and 258 who had occasionally. The non-users with reported symptoms of anxiety served as a control group, with the remaining participants divided into three groups.
One-third smoked a product that was 24% THC, with just 1% CBD. The second group smoked a product with 24% CBD and 1% THC. A third group smoked a cannabis flower with a one-to-one relationship between the two compounds: 12% CBD and 12% THC.
All cannabis users purchased their own product from dispensaries, according to researchers’ requirements. Individuals were not…
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