Tom

Feel sometimes like you might be drinking a little more than you'd like? Here's Kate Smith at  Refinery 29, sharing her experience swapping out a glass or two of wine for CBD-infused chocolates. 

The night of my Sex and the City binge, I settled in on my couch, turned on HBO, popped a chocolate (I chose the ones from Sakara) and forgot about it. It was kind of huge: The effects of CBD didn't knock me over the way I had felt when I smoked. It wasn't until over an hour later that I realized I was much more relaxed and less anxious than before. I wasn't “high” by any stretch of the imagination; if anything, I was more in control of my thoughts than usual. I was relaxed enough to logically realize that, at 11:30 p.m., there was really no need to check my work email. I'm not that important — and that's a wonderful thing.

A wonderful thing indeed to find relaxation, and not have to deal with a hangover, the calorie intake, the strain on the liver etc. What do you think?

 

If you want information on using cannabis to treat conditions including cancer, epilepsy and others, then check out The Realm of Caring Foundation, a nonprofit based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

According to their web site:

We improve lives through Research, Education, and Advocacy. By funding and conducting Research, we learn more about cannabis and its effects while legitimizing the therapy. Education empowers consumers to select the best products for their individual needs, and informs healthcare professionals about options for their patients. Through Advocacy, we spread the truth about cannabis and expand access to those in need.

Some history: As an infant, Charlotte Figi suffered Dravet's Syndrome, which produces uncontrollable seizures. Pharmaceuticals did little to help, so eventually her parents, desperate for help, approached the Stanley brothers (Joel, Jesse, Jon, Jordan, Jared and Josh) who were experimenting with cross-breeding marijuana strains with industrial hemp. The result was a plant that produced high levels of CBD, and little THC. They named the strain Charlotte's Web™.

As detailed at The Realm of Caring:

After receiving several inquiries from families seeking help around the world, the group recognized the need to create a formal organization to not only collect research and data on individuals using cannabis products, but to also educate and advocate about this often misunderstood form of therapy.

The organization has grow into Realm of Caring. Their research portal has good information for anyone interested in investigating the medicinal properties of cannabis and CBD.

 

 

Non-psychoactive CBD is being used to combat epilepsy, cancer and other conditions, as reported in a well-researched story by David Kohn in the Washington Post. He writes:

Over decades, researchers have found that THC may help treat pain, nausea, loss of appetite and other problems, while CBD was thought to be biologically inactive in humans. But in the past 10 years, scientists have concluded that CBD may be quite useful. Dozens of studies have found evidence that the compound can treat epilepsy as well as a range of other illnesses, including anxiety, schizophrenia, heart disease and cancer.

The story also points at the need for more research:

As more scientists recognize the compound’s potential, there has been an “explosion of research,” according to Pal Pacher, a pharmacologist and cardiologist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. He has been studying the chemical for more than a decade; his work has shown that CBD may have benefits in both heart disease and diabetes.

Make sure to check out the comments too.