[sc name=”WHAT IS CBD”]
Yes — although CBD comes from the cannabis plant family, just like its intoxicating cousin compound THC, you will not feel a “high” or psychoactive effect from CBD. Although there are tiny trace amounts of THC in most CBD products, the amount is so low that it is functionally impossible to get intoxicated from it. Therefore, CBD is legal to purchase and own across the United States. You can shop for CBD products with full confidence (and at CBDfx, we provide unique batch lab reports so that you can see exactly what you’re putting in your body, and in what proportion).
By all measurable results, CBD is extremely safe for humans to ingest. In fact, clinical trial data published by the journal Current Pharmaceutical Design showed that oral administration of CBD is safe even in extremely high doses.
That being said, some users do report mild side effects when using CBD. CBD will affect everyone differently, and you should always consult with your physician before beginning to supplement with CBD. Even when you do begin dosing with CBD, you should start with a small dose and work your way up until you understand how CBD affects your unique physiology.
Mild side effects from CBD are usually reported by users who took relatively high doses. Drowsiness or grogginess was the most common of these side effects. More than this, however, the most important consideration before taking CBD is to determine how it interacts with any drugs you are currently on. CBD may interfere with the way your drug regimen is working, so it’s critical that you have a conversation with your doctor to confirm that it’s appropriate to begin using CBD on your own, especially if you’re currently taking medication.
No — CBD will not get you “high” like the other famous chemical compound found in cannabis (THC). However, just because it doesn’t give you a “body buzz” or intoxicating high does not mean that you won’t feel an effect from taking CBD. Regardless, there is no intoxication involved. The World Health Organization has determined that there is no potential for abuse in terms of CBD usage, and it is considered non-toxic.
CBD affects everyone differently, but don’t go into your first CBD dose expecting to feel a “body high” or effect similar to THC-rich cannabis. It simply doesn’t work that way. THC binds directly to your CB1 and CB2 receptors; CBD, on the other hand, acts as a sneaky indirect agonist of cannabinoid receptors. That all means, in layman’s terms, that you won’t “feel” a prominent intoxicating effect from taking CBD like you would from THC.
Yes, anecdotal reports abound with users reporting beneficial effects from CBD use – however, the FDA has not yet approved CBD to treat any specific symptom or condition, and so CBDfx does not endorse any claims of health benefits or make any suggestion regarding our products’ use for those purposes.
The CBD molecule formula is C21H30O2, with a molecular weight of 314.469 g/mol. It’s a phytocannabinoid (cannabinoid derived from a plant; specifically, the cannabis species) that is “devoid of psychoactive activity, with [potential] analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antineoplastic and chemopreventive activities” (source: PubChem, National Institute of Health).
As mentioned earlier, the CBD molecule is a mysterious one for several reasons. While THC binds so neatly to the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors, CBD probably does not. We do know that it stimulates endoplasmic reticulum stress and “inhibits AKT/mTOR signaling” — which means that CBD possibly helps promote the normal breakdown and regeneration of dead cells, processes known as autophagy and apoptosis.