“hat’s if you believe the hype. Problems with aches and pains, inflammation, stress, unsatisfying sex and PMS? Try CBD.
It comes in many forms: skin creams, lotions, oils, tinctures, pills, and even powder or liquid food additive. You can get it nearly everywhere. Neighborhood coffee shops splash CBD in lattes. Amazon delivers it to your doorstep. Walgreens and CVS will stock it in stores nationwide.
And while marketers hype the hemp plant derivative cannabidiol as a natural remedy for just about anything they might imagine, their therapeutic claims are rarely supported by medical evidence that CBD is significantly better than a placebo.
When it comes to over-the-top claims, there are probably some people taking advantage,” said Jay Hartenbach, CEO of Medterra, one of the largest marketers of CBD. It’s important to “come back to the science.”
Nearly 7% of Americans are using CBD, a figure projected to grow to 10% of Americans by 2025, according to investment research firm Cowen & Co. The fast-growing market already generates as much as $2 billion in sales. That could grow to $16 billion by 2025, according to Cowen & Co.
The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, signed by President Donald Trump in December, loosened restrictions on the use of hemp products that contain less than .3 % THC. THC is the psychoactive component found in marijuana – the chemical that produces a high when smoked or ingested.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, whose last day was Friday, said early last week that he was concerned to hear major pharmacies and retail stores are selling CBD and said his agency will contact retailers and remind them that the agency’s role is to protect consumers from products that might put them at risk.
The FDA has approved the use of one cannabidiol drug, Epidiolex, to treat seizures from Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, two rare kinds of epilepsy.
But research that has passed FDA muster is the exception in an industry that typically puts marketing ahead of science.
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