Products with cannabidiol (CBD) are in fashion. “Products with CBD: the new trend to give well-being and health at Christmas,” reads the latest slogan of one of the brands that designs and manufactures products with cannabidiol. Actresses and celebrities boast about their consumption on social networks. They are advertised to help you sleep better, against anxiety, arthritis, stress, depression, pain, muscle overload… They are marketed in the form of gel, patches, drops, candies, capsules, shampoos, creams, oils, etc. bar… for both people and pets. What is the reason for such omnipresence? Are its properties real?
“What there is is a fashion derived from the desire to indirectly justify the recreational use of cannabis and extend it beyond giving it a sheen of therapeutic benefits that are very debatable,” responds the head of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, ??Eduard Vieta, and one of the authors of the international study that has brought together the largest body of scientific evidence on the effects of cannabis consumption. And he recalls that in this work, published a few weeks ago in the British Medical Journal, it is clear that the harms of this substance exceed its benefits.
CBD is one of the two fundamental components of cannabis and is psychoactive (acts on the nervous system), but does not have the psychotropic and addictive effects of THC. “When the component that can cause addiction and psychosis disappears, all kinds of properties are attributed to cannabidiol, and it is true that it can have some beneficial effect (just as caffeine has), but most of the qualities that are attributed to “These products are marketing,” says Vieta.
Among the therapeutic properties of CBD, its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, neuroprotective, anticonvulsant, antioxidant, anti-nausea, anxiolytic, antitumor, antipsychotic and immunomodulatory power is usually mentioned.
But, from a scientific point of view, there is only evidence that it can reduce seizures in people with some types of epilepsy. “Studies carried out on other benefits are scarce or of poor quality,” different medical services warn on the Internet, including the United States National Library of Medicine.
“The inclusion of this compound in cosmetics or nutritional products has a very small effect but gives a marketing advantage to those who sell it because cannabis is associated with relaxation and well-being,” comments Vieta.
And he explains that, beyond the placebo effect, the results of creams or gels with CBD are imperceptible because their absorption through the skin is very low, so very high concentrations of this compound would be needed.
This reduces the chances of suffering side effects from its consumption unless it is ingested in large quantities. “The safety of cannabidiol is high, but the important thing is that the product sold as CBD is well made, that you are sure that it does not also contain some THC, because that component is addictive and if it is incorporated into the products “It is achieved that they consume more,” indicates the head of Psychiatry at the Clínic.
And he emphasizes that the greatest risk of the rise of CBD products is social because it turns cannabis derivatives into something with attractive, fashionable potential, and contributes to normalizing their consumption.
Studies from the United States indicate that adolescents are more likely to use cannabis when they have seen medical marijuana advertisements on billboards, magazines or other media in the previous three months. And if you look at the signs of stores that sell CBD or the packaging of cosmetics and other products that contain it, you see that most of them show the marijuana leaf as a claim.
“It is a form of covert advertising of cannabis consumption, a business promoted by those who make money with other products that do have psychoactive effects, and it can be the entry way to the consumption of these other substances as consuming CBD becomes normalized and It is linked to certain properties, although 99% are imaginary,” Vieta remarks.
Concern about the quality of freely traded CBD products has also intensified in recent months in the United Kingdom, where it is estimated that six million Britons have consumed them at some point and cannabidiol is expected to drive a business of more than £1 billion (more than €1.15 billion) by 2025.
Various doctors and scientists have criticized the use of the benefits of pharmaceutical-grade medicinal cannabis to associate them with over-the-counter CBD products because they consider that there is not enough scientific evidence of its impact on health nor is its composition known with certainty.
And their voices have been reinforced after research published last July found that the majority of non-pharmaceutical CBD sold in the UK did not contain what it claimed. The authors of the report claim that only 5 of 63 products analyzed (8%) had CBD concentrations that were less than 10% away from the advertised concentration.
