Products with cannabidiol (CBD) are in fashion. "Products with CBD: the new trend to give the gift of well-being and health for Christmas", says the latest slogan of one of the brands that design and manufacture products with cannabidiol. Actresses and celebrities brag about cannabidiol consumption on social media. They are advertised for better sleep and against anxiety, arthritis, stress, depression, pain, muscle overload... They are sold in the form of gels, patches, drops, candies, capsules, shampoos, creams , oils, in bars... both for people and for domestic animals. Where does this omnipresence come from? Are the properties of cannabidiol real?
"What there is is a fashion derived from the desire to indirectly justify the recreational use of cannabis, to extend it further and to give it a patina of therapeutic benefits that are highly debatable", replies the head of psychiatry and psychology from the Clínic de Barcelona hospital, Eduard Vieta, and one of the authors of the international study that has brought together the highest body of scientific evidence on the effects of cannabis consumption. And remember that in this work, which was published a few weeks ago in the British Medical Journal, it is clear that the harms of this substance outweigh the benefits.
CBD is one of the two main components of cannabis and is psychoactive (it acts on the nervous system), but it does not have the psychotropic and addictive effects of THC.
"Because the component that can cause addiction and psychosis disappears, all kinds of properties are attributed to cannabidiol. It is true that it can have some beneficial effect (like caffeine), but most of the qualities that are attributed to these products are marketing", points out Vieta.
Among the therapeutic properties of CBD, it is usually mentioned its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, neuroprotective, anticonvulsant, antioxidant, anti-nausea, anxiolytic, antitumor, antipsychotic and immunomodulatory powers, among others.
From a scientific point of view, however, there is only evidence that it can reduce seizures in people with some type of epilepsy. "Studies that have been done on other benefits are few or of poor quality," various medical services, including the US National Library of Medicine, warn online.
"The inclusion of this compound in cosmetics or nutritional products has a very small effect, but it gives a marketing advantage to those who sell it, because cannabis is associated with relaxation and well-being", says Vieta. And he explains that, beyond the placebo effect, the results of creams or gels with CBD are imperceptible because absorption by the skin is very low, so very high concentrations of this compound are needed.
This reduces the chances of suffering side effects from consumption, unless it is ingested in large quantities. "The safety of cannabidiol is high, but the most important thing is that the product that is sold as well-made CBD, you can be sure that it does not also contain a little THC, because this component is indeed addictive and, if incorporates into the products, it is achieved that more are consumed", says the head of psychiatry at the Clínic hospital.
And he emphasizes that the worst risk of the rise of CBD products is of a social nature, because it turns cannabis derivatives into something potentially attractive, fashionable, and contributes to the normalization of its consumption.
Studies in the United States indicate that teenagers are more likely to use cannabis when they have seen advertisements for medical marijuana on billboards, magazines or other media three months before. And if we look at the signs of shops that sell CBD or the packaging of cosmetics and other products that contain it, we will see that most of them show the marijuana leaf as a claim.
"It's a kind of covert advertising for cannabis use, a business promoted by those who make money from other products that do have psychoactive effects, and it can be the gateway to the consumption of these other substances as it becomes normalized consume CBD and it is linked to certain properties, even if 99% are imaginary", remarks Vieta.
Concern over the quality of over-the-counter CBD products has also intensified in recent months in the UK, where an estimated six million Britons have consumed it at some point and cannabidiol is expected to drive business of over one billion pounds sterling (over €1.15 billion) by 2025.
Several doctors and scientists have criticized using the benefits of pharmaceutical-grade medicinal cannabis to associate them with over-the-counter CBD products, because they believe there is not enough scientific evidence of their impact on health and he knows exactly what the composition is.
And voices have been strengthened after research published in July found that most non-pharmaceutical CBD sold in the UK did not contain what it claimed to contain. The authors of the report say that only five out of sixty-three products analyzed (8%) had CBD concentrations that deviated less than 10% from the advertised concentration.
