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There is vape oil, pain cream, patches, candies (gelatin cubs, sour snakes, rainbow bites – it's your choice), capsules and compounds.
Cannabidiol, or CBD as it is better known – a natural extract of the cannabis sativa plant – is now so ubiquitous in the United States, it would be wrong to think that there are few places where it is not available and few evils she can not handle.
Users say that they take it for everything from muscle pain and anxiety to arthritis, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder.
And do not forget Fido. There is also CBD oil with added bacon flavor.
According to the market research firm of the DBC, the Brightfield Group, its projects will represent $ 5.7 billion next year and 22 billion by 2022. The director of research of the group Bethany Gomez said Charlotte Web Holdings, the industry's largest player, had increased 172 percent in 2016-17 and is on track to earn $ 89 million in 2018.
This is a controversial sector that inevitably turns heads in the world of investment, not to mention the appeal of a few unlikely corners. Beverage maker Coca Cola said it "is closely monitoring the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional beverages for the well-being of the world." A request for additional comment on this subject from BBC Capital has remained unanswered.
According to Gomez, when the Brightfield group set its forecasts for the sector at the beginning of the year, "we raised a lot of eyebrows". But, she says, three days later, the media reported that Coca Cola was interested in the CBD sector and that it suddenly made sense. "If you look at the total amount of CBD products sold today, and then you add the big-box retailers and the big pharmacies that are demanding entry, we're expecting a very quick change."
In front of the curve
Zsolt Csonka is part of this growing fan base. He is the founder of Adriaen Block, a restaurant of Astoria in New York, the city's first bar-restaurant at the CBD. Csonka said he wanted to create less alcoholic cocktails, with the help of ingredients (shrubs, berries and herbs) used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but also containing olive oil. CBD – "mixing the new generation with the old set," he likes to say.
"If you put CBD in drinks, instead of taking four or five whiskeys to get drunk, with just one or two glasses infused with CBD, you get a much more relaxed state of mind and your stress level goes down." "he says. .
Csonka makes CBD-based sauces to accompany its dishes – like pepper sauce for its New York strings; its demi-glace, white butter or béarnaise.
But what about science? There is no concrete evidence yet that the CBD is doing anything for people who take it for a vague notion of "well-being".
"I could not relax at night or sleep. my mind was still in the knots, "he says. "When I took two CBD-based drinks or drops of potion in my coffee or anything, I was able to sleep as well and have the mind able to relax so well. . I would never sell something in which I did not believe.
There is no concrete evidence yet that the CBD is doing anything for people who take it for a vague concept of "well-being"
"But, adds Csonka, we provide an experience. I do not give anyone a miracle cure or advice. We are only strengthening their experience. creating and environment to ease their level of anxiety or stress. "
Who buys it?
So what do CBD consumers look like? According to a Brightfield survey of 5,000 CBD users this summer, Generation Y were the first to buy CBD products after various states legalized it. There is also a sharp increase in the number of users in their early thirties, but it decreases among those in their forties (the Gen X-ers), and then again among baby boomers, who buy dyes, creams and capsules to treat aging such as arthritis or chronic pain, said Gomez.
There is also a fairly even distribution of male and female consumers – although Gomez suggests that in the past, more women were buying it.
According to a survey conducted by Brightfield this summer on 5,000 CBD users, Generation Y was the first to buy CBD products after various states had legalized it.
But, beware of the buyer. Products containing CBD can be found anywhere in the United States, but – with one specific exception – if you buy it in any form, you are breaking the law in each of its 50 states. How is it possible if recreational marijuana has been legalized in nine states, ask yourself? The problem is a conflict between federal law and state laws and the way people perceive two very different types of marijuana plants: marijuana and hemp.
Buyers are looking for two main cannabis extracts: THC, which is the psychoactive substance that makes you high, and CBD, which is not. Industrial hemp is defined as containing less than 0.3% THC, but it may contain high concentrations of CBD. Marijuana, on the other hand, is usually grown precisely because of its THC content. In short, hemp is completely different from marijuana, but that did not prevent both species of cannabis from being classified as Schedule 1 drug in the United States in the 1970s under federal law – like heroin and cocaine. And this designation remains to this day.
In states where it is legal, products containing THC must be grown, processed and sold only by companies approved by the state. CBD, on the other hand, is available everywhere, from supermarkets to gas stations.
But the CBD remains mired in a legal gray area – many retailers believe that as long as they comply with state regulations and do not export their products (which would constitute drug trafficking), the forces of Federal order such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will take a non-interventionist approach.
A DEA spokesman confirmed to BBC Capital that the CBD in any form – including that derived from hemp plants – remains a Schedule 1 drug and is illegal. The only exception, he said, is a drug called Epidiolex, containing 98% CBD and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of epilepsy in children. Made by the British company GW Pharmaceuticals, Epidiolex is a Schedule 5 drug – the same as the over-the-counter cough medicine in the United States. Meanwhile, according to the National Health Service, Epidiolex is not yet registered in the UK but is currently subject to the licensing system.
Csonka, the founder of Adriaen Block, acknowledges for example that the DEA could burst into its premises – "and they will probably do it at some point" – but he says he's perfectly familiar with the regulations of the State and CBD that it uses contains 0% THC. content.
Prudent approach
Because its legal status in America remains so unclear, potential investors in the CBD industry, while excited about the opportunity to make money, are also cautious.
Despite the fact that the total US CBD market accounted for $ 367 million in retail sales with a growth rate of 39% last year, according to Hemp Business Journal, the sector remains volatile. Tilray, a medical cannabis grower, saw its stock increase by 30% a week in September, before falling by 30% by the end of the week.
What could make or break the industry, is if the federal law will change. Meanwhile, Forbes called the hype about cannabis stocks ridiculous and said that Apple was still a better investment than the pot.
The fate of the CBD could ultimately be decided by an unlikely politician: the 76-year-old Kentucky Republican and Senate Speaker Mitch McConnell. Earlier this year, McConnell introduced a measure attached to the Senate's Farm Bill, a law that covers agricultural and food policy in the United States. Its "Hemp Farming Act" would remove industrial hemp from the list of controlled substances regulated by federal law. If adopted, according to Bethany Gomez, "it would completely destroy hemp and all its derivatives – including CBD, making it 100% legal to be sold".
So what about science? For a miracle drug believed to help relieve chronic pain and depression, among many other conditions, there are probably strong, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies proving its effectiveness? Not really. Science, it seems, has not yet caught up with the growing popularity of the CBD.
But that does not mean that it shows no potential. Igor Grant, director of the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California at San Diego, told BBC Capital that there were promising clues as to its future use in medicine.
Forbes called the hype about cannabis stocks ridiculous and said that Apple was still a better investment than the pot
Some reports – although mostly anecdotal – suggest that CBD may have anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory and even antipsychotic properties. Grant added that his use as a treatment for schizophrenia had yielded some promising results – "a worthy project for follow-up," he said, although the data is not at the same level The CBD definitely helps people with schizophrenia.
"CBD probably has anti-inflammatory actions [and may help with] Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease or neurological conditions with an inflammatory component, "he said.
Grant describes these elements as clues to his potential use and directions in which the medical community is evolving, but warns that science is not established.
As for people touting CBD as a product to add to fruit-based beverages to make us feel better – what's called "functional drinks for well-being" – Grant says that, like many Claims in the nutritional space, is not supported by data. "That's not to say that they're wrong, but we just do not know, I'd say, the valium also helps with anxiety." Should we add some of that in Coca Cola and do so that people relax?
The first thing to do, he says, is to ensure harmony between state laws and federal laws. "Let's wait for science to emerge. We will then know and we can inform the public. "
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