Can cannabis oil really relieve the pains of working life? | Society

george shrugs over a wooden table at the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. You'll find it here almost every day, from morning to night. "Why see the world while the world can come to you?", He asks through a grizzled mustache, a pint of orange juice and a rolling cigarette.

Previously, he worked at the now abandoned Crimsworth Dyeworks factory in Midgehole. He spent years in black and black sending fabrics to the nearby city of Manchester. Later, he began digging roads for the gas station for 25 years, which was not so simple, but was eventually fired at the age of 53 due to health problems. "Once my health failed, I did not serve them anymore," he says.

Now 67, George shows the scars of that era: white finger vibration, back wounds, sciatica, ear damage. But he's one of the growing numbers of people over 60 who use CBD, a compound derived from cannabis, who feel that decades of injury are diminishing. "Now I do not have my sciatica, I'm freer in my joints and I can not walk without limping. It will not fix a broken bone, it will not fix my heart, but whatever it does, it will suit me, "he says.

Marijuana for medical purposes has been legalized in 2018 but remains almost impossible to obtain. A recent report from the House of Commons Public Health and Social Services Committee stated that "patients' expectations have been unduly increased" since Interior Secretary Sajid Javid made its decision on marijuana for medical purposes, and that "doctors respond to government mismanagement".

Apparently in its place, CBD and business are booming – Forbes estimates it will be worth $ 20 billion by 2024.

CBD (cannabidiol) must contain less than 1 mg of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) – the main psychoactive component of cannabis – by closed container to be licit. It is sold in places such as The Tonic in Hebden Bridge, which primarily serves older customers: about 60% of its clientele is over 60 years old.

"There is a group of ladies called" Golden Girls. "Kate Henderson, who founded the store in 2017 with Michelle Oxley, laughs, buys a few bottles and goes away saying," Our grandchildren will think we are cool. "

Oxley was inspired to open The Tonic after years of navigating British drug laws. She grew up in Ripley, Derbyshire – "a left-wing industrial and industrial town," she says – Oxley describes how her brother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at a young age. Seeing her son's positive response to marijuana, Oxley's mother, a "kind elderly lady," was forced to act beyond the law.

She bought cannabis from local dealers, learned to roll balls and felt for 35 years as a criminal. "Growing up, knowing that you are breaking the law to save someone has a huge effect on you," Oxley says.

Since cannabis was banned in 1928, whole generations have been deterred from using it and enjoying all the benefits it could have. But for George, who "hates drugs", with the CBD, they "eliminated all the crazy elements", as he says. "When you've been in constant pain for a long time, you're trying to do something after a while," he says.

Some critics fear that vulnerable consumers like George will be encouraged to buy a "miracle cure" in the absence of significant scientific evidence. There have been no official tests on the effects of the CBD in the UK. In addition, a recent report from the Center for Medical Cannabis badyzed street offers and found that more than half of the most popular CBD oils sold did not contain the level of CBD promised on the label.

"Everyone who grew up in the last few decades was told that it was a tough drug," says Henderson. She also found that the CBD replaces a sense of community care lost due to the austerity and budget cuts of the NHS.

"Twenty years ago, you told your doctor all your life. Now, he's just writing a prescription for pills, "she says.

"You can talk about cannabis in an informal conversation now and people's ears do not get up," says Paul Nugent, 58, owner of Paul's Natural Foods. Nougent, who has always lived in Barnsley, was diagnosed with stage 3 prostate cancer in 2012. He continues to fight the disease. in good health in one of the poorest regions of Britain.

Life expectancy in Barnsley is 59.7 years for men and 61 years for women, which is below the English and regional average and board spending has been reduced by 40% in the last eight years years, which has affected social protection programs.

Barnsley was also a former hub of coal mines and residents today suffer from respiratory problems. But in this context, Nugent flourished. "We are swimming upstream in this area, but everyone knows someone who has taken CBD," he says. "Young people inspire this trust in the elderly."

In the absence of scientific evidence, UK distributors are not allowed to say that the CBD will improve specific ailments. "You are in a bad position to say that it will help with X, Y and Z," says Nugent.

But that did not stop the rise of the CBD. It comes in the form of milkshakes and chewing gum, but along with its growing popularity, the number of irreproachable resellers increases. Some call for broader drug reforms to slow the misinformation and hyperbolic language of the CBD's healing powers. In addition, this multi-billion dollar industry benefits the well-to-do, but British drug laws have mostly targeted low-income people for decades.

Trends aside, for many working communities, the CBD is helping where legislation and austerity are not. "The CBD is legal, but not cannabis, which gives it an advantage," says Henderson. "After all, everyone wants to feel a little rebellious, is not it?"

• CBD – cannabidiol – is one of the two main active substances found in cannabis plants. The other is delta-9 tetrahydro-cannabinol, or THC, which produces the high rate sought by cannabis users for recreational purposes. CBD does not have this effect

• CBD can be extracted from hemp as well as cannabis plants

• It is most often sold mixed with an oil such as coconut or hemp

• CBD is also available in food supplements, cosmetics and snacks

• In the UK, it is legal to buy, sell or own CBD oil. with THC levels below 0.3%