CBD CLINICAL TRIALS

We are in the process of creating content for this page, it will be updated frequently so please bookmark this page. This page will contain medical trials on the benefits of CBD.

Our main focus will be on CBD as it does not have the negative effects associated with THC. Plus CBD is legal in all 50 states of the USA and in roughly 40 countries across the world, it is considered to be a supplement. However THC for medical purposes is legal in 24 states across the USA including DC. Plus Holland, Israel, Canada and Czech Republic have legalized medical marijuana.

Sometimes a combination of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (Cannabidiol) is desirable. It comes down to dosage, the individual and which medical condition being treated. Also some patients need to be careful that they do not fail drug tests or do not want to get high. Although CBD can be used to reduce the feeling of being too high from THC.

There is still allot of research and medical trials that need to be conducted to unlock the full potential of marijuana plant. CBD can also be used to improve health for people without medical conditions without the negative side effects associated with THC.

If you want to find out more about CBD please contact us. Also please let us know about any clinical trials not listed on this page and we will add them.

Cancer Clinical Trial

CBD Clinical Trial

Cancer is already an extremely deadly and dangerous disease that affects thousands if not millions of people world-wide. While there are different kinds of Cancers, the thing which they have all in common is that most of them are at this moment incurable through synthetic medicines.

Perhaps one of the more deadly type of Cancer, is the one which affects the Brain. At the time of writing, in the US alone, malignant and non-malignant brain tumors stood at about 368,117 incident out of 100,000 individuals. Alternatively, it has been estimated as well that from birth, any given US citizen has a 0.62% chance of being diagnosed by brain cancer.

The Brief Insight Into CBD

To fully understand the depths of the clinical Trials, you should know a little bit about CBD in the first place. First and foremost, I would like to eliminate the confusion about Marijuana being a recreational drug. Yes, Marijuana is psychoactive, but there much more to it. Marijuana herbs are comprised of more than 80 different strains from all of those, two strains always steal the limelight, namely CBD and THC. THC is the stain of Marijuana that induces the psychoactive properties, CBD on the other hand is the strain that mostly used for treatment. This strain holds all the health benefits minus the psychoactive properties!

For those of you who don’t know about Brain Cancer.

You should know that whenever the Brain is affected by Cancer,the Brain starts to develop malignant cell from within the brain. Here, the central nervous system of the brain which controls the most vital functions of the body including speech, movement, though , feelings, memory and any other cognitive functions. And these malignant cells turn into tumors.

Brain Cancers are divided into two categories.

Primary Brain Tumors are classified by the type of cell or tissues the tumor affects. These tumors can travel short distances inside the brain, but their travel distances are typically limited to inside of the brain.
Alternatively, whenever a cancer is developed outside of the brain and spreads into the brain. It is called a secondary brain tumor

Either way, both of these are extremely dangerous and up until now, the means of curing them involved undergoing extensively painful chemotherapeutic procedures. However, with the advancements in medical treatment using Cannabis, it is now possible to greatly help patients of Brain Cancer.

How Cannabis Is Helping Your Brain Cancer

The process through which CBD and THC is working together in order to tackle the Brain Cancer Cell is not as simple. Because as it turns out, that there are multiple ways through which THC alongside a plethora of other cannabinoid compounds are working to cut off the tumor’s blood supply and cause the cancer cells to commit suicide.

The first way through which Cannabis works is by starving the tumor cells off. The way Cannabis works in this terms in by affecting genes that help to produce a compound known as VEGF which is an abbreviated form of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor. This particular compound greatly helps to encourage the growth of new blood vessels. What this does it deprive the blood vessels that supply the tumor cells and prevent their growth by starving them off the blood vessels supplying them.
Aside from actually preventing tumor growth, Marijuana compounds also helps force the tumor cells to self-destruct. This process takes place following two processes apoptosis and autophagy. Both of these processes are required to kill of old and damaged cells, at least this works in normal cells. But for some reason, Cancer Cells don’t self-destruct. What THC helps to do is force the cancer cells to kill themselves off, or in other words undergo autophagy.

Clinical Trials

A Spanish group of researchers led by Professor Guillermo Velsasco and Manuel Guzman ran an experiment where they were able to establish that Cannabinoid treatment is able to kill almost 80% of Gilioma Cancer Cells.
Another research done by Dr.Velasco during the year 2000 shocked the researchers as they discovered that upon applying extracted THC to gliblastoma Cells, the tumor cells didn’t only began to grow, but eventually they were killed.
In 2004, a compound was discovered which was produced by cannabis that alters genes known as VEGF which stood for Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor that was found to greatly limit and even halt the growth of tumors
The same team led by Dr. Velasco also discovered a groundbreaking mechanism which allow cannabinoids to activate a signaling pathway that involves a process call autophagy which influences the cancer cells to eat themselves (auto Digest)
In August 2011, an event known only as the “miracle baby” was recorded by Doctor Courtney who studied an 8 months ear old child who had brain cancer. Upon treating the baby with Cannabinoid oil, the baby saw a drastic improvement in her conditions within just 8 months.

Stroke Clinical Trial

CBD Clinical Trial

In the strictest of terms, strokes are caused (Among other things) when a certain part of the brain gets deprived of oxygenated blood which leads to the victim suffering from severe long term/ short term disabilities.

At the time of writing, it was statistically determined that in the US alone, about 795,000 people experience a stroke each year. And out those 795,000 people. Almost 140,000 individuals often lost their life to this occurrence.

While the majority of stroke patients are mostly elder people, about 1/4^th of the affected population has been seen to fall at an age group that is less than 65.

For those of you who might be fully unaware of this, Strokes takes place in the brain when the blood flow that is responsible for supplying the brain with all of its essential nutrients and minerals gets somehow obstructed. This obstruction can happen due to high pressure or even hemorrhaging due to external impacts.

While it is possible via modern pharmaceutical medicines to save a person from a stroke, it is not yet fully possible to eliminate the side-effects which come as an aftermath of the stroke.

These side effects include loss of speech, memory, cognitive abilities and even alteration in personalities.

In the medical world, Strokes have been classified into three categories, namely

Ischemic: Which is caused by a blockage
Hemorrhagic: This is caused when there is a rupture in the blood vessels
Transient Ischemic Attack: These are also blockages, but which are short lived and temporary

Up until this point, the methods through which the recovery of the aforementioned cognitive functions mainly including rehabilitation and medicines. Not to say that they didn’t work, but they didn’t work “as” effectively.

However, recent studies into comparing the effects of CBD and Stroke have seen to reach a turning point where now it apparently seems that CBD might be the game changer in this field!

A brief into the CBD compound

Before diving deep into the explanations of the clinical trial, it is of paramount importance that you understand what “CBD” really is. The first misconception which I would like to point out here is that, Marijuana is not only a recreational drug. True, it is has been used for primarily recreation in the past, but things have changed drastically now!

Marijuana herbs are comprised of 80 different strains, each of which has their own unique properties and characteristics. But the two strains which always steal the limelight are CBD and THC. THC is basically the strain of Marijuana which gives the herb its psychoactive properties. While on the hand, CBD which is primarily used for treatment is the strain which holds most of the medicinal benefits of Marijuana, with the exception of being Psychoactive.

The Effects of CBD on Strokes

Stroke has been known to cause a number of different problems, ultimately handicapping the person due to problems in the neuropathic pathway.

When a patient is exposed to a good dose of CBD, what happens is that this very strain creates a form a protective layer alongside the neuropathic pathway which prevents it from being damaged due to a stroke.

Shortly CBD is administered, it not only starts to protect the neurons but also the astrocytes which ultimately leads to a much greater recovery from any kind of biochemical, functional, histological or neurobehavioral defect.

Furthermore, it has been observed upon close inspection that part of the damage due to a stroke is closely linked with an increase in three aspects of the body.

The oxidative stress
Excitoxicity
Inflammation

As it turns out, CBD does a great job in minimizing the increase all three of these effects, which further helps to mitigate the overall damage caused by a stroke.

It should be noted though that the efficacy of CBD is highly dependable on “How Long” it took for the CBD to be administered after the stroke. The quicker the administration, the more effective the outcome will be.

Clinical Trials

Throughout the years, there has been a number of different researches going on which helped a lot to prove the potency of CBD in tackling Strokes.

A recent meta-analysis of about 1,473 subjects published in the Journal of Blood Flow & Metabolism in December 2014 found that in the subjects who had suffered from an permanent or temporary ischemic stroke, the amount of brain injured was greatly depended on whether the subject had been going through cannabinoid therapy or not. Going through the therapy being more effective.
An In-depth study performed in 2012 revealed that the number of cannabinoid receptors (both CB1 and CB2) experienced an overall increase after a stroke. Excited by this result, scientists went ahead to administer a synthetic cannabinoid which

Diabetes Clinical Trial

CBD Clinical Trial

Since the 1980s when the disease was first identified, the numbers of patients who are affected by some form of either diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes has quadrupled in number to a staggering 422 million people. As of 2016, it has been statistically reported that in the United States alone, every 1 out of 11 people are knowingly or unknowingly affected by diabetes.

For those of you who are new out there, let me give you a quick rundown on what diabetes actually is. So, for starters diabetes is basically more or less of a lifelong condition which up until now, had no potent cure. This primarily occurs due to the body not being able to produce enough insulin or for the fact of the whole mechanism controlling the level of insulin in the body not working properly. As a result, the victim’s blood sugar level rises to a high level, leading to some severe complications if left untreated that include cardiovascular diseases, stroke, retinal damage and kidney failure.

Diabetes has been classified into two types, the first one being Diabetes 1 where the pancreas stops working properly, failing to produce sufficient amounts of insulin. The second one is the type 2 diabetes were the cells stop responding to insulin at a normal level. Type 2 diabetes takes a long time to develop and is the most common form of diabetes to affect people.

Please note that I say “Up until now” because recent studies in the field CBD treatments has led researchers to believe that CBD might actually be able to completely get rid of the problem from its core!

A Little insight into CBD

Effects of CBD On Diabetes

Discovered during the 1990s, the endogenous cannabinoid system is the body’s own physiological system responsible for controlling the synthesis and circulation of anything related to Cannabinoid thanks to the presence pharmacologic interactions with the CB1 and CB2 receptors. Several EC agonists include arachidonoylethanolamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol. These activates the EC system to promote food ingestion, pain reduction and relaxation of muscle.

When working under normal circumstances, the endocannabinoid system works locally and is mostly inactive. But if for some reasons the centrally and peripherally located CB1 receptor comes blocked or remains inactive for a prolonged time, the human body experience a lack of apatite and anorexigenic effects. What ingestion of CBD does here, is that it rapidly helps to activate the endocannabinoid system and excite it, enhancing the stimulation of the CB1 in sensory terminals such as the gastrointestinal tract and liver encouraging increased adiponectin production, inhibition of lipogenesis and of course increased glucose uptake which altogether helps to maintain the body’s homeostasis levels mitigating the amount of excessive glucose in the blood stream, preventing diabetes from kicking in altogether.

Multiple clinical trials has been run on this very subject matter which further tipped forward the case in CBD’s favor.

The Clinical Trials

While carrying on an experiment in animal models obesity, particularly OB Genetic Mouse Models, CBD has shown some very positive metabolic effects leading to decreased chances of Diabetes. During a four weeks’ session using CBD alone (3.0mg/kg), it seemed to produce a 55% increase in plasma HDL cholesterol levels, and reduced total cholesterol levels by more than 25%. In addition, the same dose reduced liver triglyceride and increased liver glycogen levels and increased adiponectin levels. A 1:1 ratio of a combination of THCV and CBD (3.0mg/kg + 3.0mg/kg respectively) also produced positive metabolic effects in the same model: a 50% increase in plasma HDL cholesterol levels, and reduced total cholesterol levels by 19%, reduced liver triglyceride and increased liver glycogen levels, reduced fasting insulin levels and increased energy expenditure at 3 hours post dose.

This researched data suggested that using either of these two cannabinoid, alone or in conjunction with one another, they are able to produce some very desirable effects improving multiple symptoms of diabetes including obesity, insulin sensitivity, hypertension as well as hyperglycemia.

While the former experiment was done using mouse models, the second one was a controlled double blinded “Five Arm” trial consisting of about 62 of Type-2 Diabetes patients, divided into groups of 11 to 14 patients. The whole experiment ran for 13 weeks and was primarily a pilot trial for GWP42004 (5mg), GWP42003 (100mg) and two separate ratios (5mg:5mg and 100mg:5mg) of GWP42003 and GWP42004. Each of the treatment was administered in the form of CBD Oral Capsules given twice daily. The results of the trial were as follows:

The trial showed that GWP42004, an oral cannabinoid treatment, produced the following desirable anti-diabetic effects: reduced fasting plasma glucose levels (p=0.04), with an increase in fasting insulin, improved pancreatic beta-cell function (p=0.0074), increased serum adiponectin (p=0.0024), reduced systolic blood pressure (p=0.099), and reduced serum IL-6 levels (p=0.076). Other non-significant trends of interest included increased insulin sensitivity, reduced HbA1c, improvement in both glucose & insulin responses to glucose load (OGTT), raised GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), and reduced serum C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels. The trial did not show meaningful effects in the other treatment arms.

Clearly it can be seen here, that this was a largely successful trial and created a strong base for the usage of CBD in tackling diabetes and a second phase of this trial was carried out very soon after the completion of this one

Pain

CBD Clinical Trial

There are roughly 100 million people in the USA who suffer from chronic pain, that is approximately 31% of the population. Chronic pain is defined by medium to long term pain ranging from 3 months or longer since onset of initial pain. Obviously pain represents a huge problem for the global community to deal with. Also many people suffer from short term pain such as back pain. CBD offers them a chance to potentially virtually eliminate the pain and or reduce the time they experience with the pain.

For people with severe pain it is vital to be able to reduce the pain level as living life with long term pain is extremely undesirable. The problem is often prescription pain medication is addictive and can have substantial negative side effects.

CBD offers hope for those who are desperately trying to reduce the level of pain they are experiencing. This is a chance to try taking natural, non prescription medication that has virtually no side effects and is non addictive. There is also the option of taking THC to reduce pain however this can be addictive and can have other negative side effects. So people who are experiencing mild to moderate pain may like to take just CBD. For people with moderate to severe pain may like to take a combination of THC and CBD. THC has often been used to reduce pain, however many people do not realize that CBD can also be effective.

In reality it is a matter of seeing what works for you and experiment with the dosage. It is virtually impossible to overdose with CBD and it can be quite easy to overdose with THC.

How does CBD reduce Pain?

CBD is a phytocannabinoid (natural plant chemical which is capable of interacting with the bodies endocannabinoid system). To put this into simple terms CBD is a natural chemical which influences the brain by interacting with the brain’s cannabinoid receptors.

The endocannabinoid system has broad influence over areas of the brain involved in sensations such as pain perception, movement, emotion, cognition, and sleep. So the endocnnabinoid system controls pain and CBD influences this system which controls pain.

Now you are probably asking yourself but does CBD influence the endocannbinoid system in a positive enough way to make a noticeable reduction in the level of pain that you feel. Well the great news is that the clinical trials show it does reduce pain substantially.

Results from CBD Clinical Trial on Pain Management

Endexx on the 20th April, 2016 has announced a doctor supervised, clinical study to test CBD capsules for patients suffering from neuropathic pain.

Dr. Martin Pressman, DPM in New Haven, Connecticut, Dr. Daniel Brandwein, DPM in Weston, Florida, Dr. Michael Horwitz, DPM and Dr. Daniel Kiddy, DPM, both in St Louis, Missouri will enroll twenty patients into four groups, for a one month study using CBD enriched capsules to evaluate neuropathic pain reduction.

This study is an extension of the work conducted by Dr. Kiddy with his patients and a follow up of Dr. Brandwein’s research that demonstrated an average pain reduction after 2 weeks of usage from 7 to 8 down to 3 to 4 on a pain scale of 1 to 10, using 4 to 5 drops of CBD-rich hemp oil twice a day. So reducing pain by roughly 50% shows that CBD can reduce pain for many people. It may be that a combination of THC and CBD at the right doses may also be an effective way to reduce pain to lower levels. We think it is up to the patients to try different levels of medication and the great thing is you do not have to worry about overdosing on THC. Even if you do take too much it unlikely that you would experience any considerable negative side effects.

Dr. Brandwein stated, “I am very excited about the upcoming new trial where we can follow the information even closer. I also believe that in a capsule form, patients will be more compliant and have better results. In some cases, my patients have decreased and discontinued their usage of Neurontin and Gabapentin.”

We also think this is very exciting news. If you can decrease or replace your prescription medication with a natural supplement then that is good for your overall health. CBD has less side effects and is a natural supplement full of Terpenoids, Essential Oils and Antioxidants.

Insomnia

CBD Clinical Trial

It is reported that in the United States there are 70 million people suffer from Insomnia (insufficient sleep) to put that into perspective there are 323 million population in the USA at the time of writing this article. So roughly 22% of people in the USA do not get enough sleep, this in turn can lead to serious medical problems.

Obviously it is far from ideal taking sleeping pills. They can help you to get enough sleep but can also have substantial negative side effects. CBD is a terrific natural remedy, speaking from experience I know it works well in terms of getting enough sleep and a high quality sleep. You wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and not feeling groggy.

Unfortunately there have not been enough clinical trials in relation to CBD, THC or a combination of both of these Cannabinoids on various medical conditions. Even though Insomnia affects so many people there simply have not been many clinical trials on how CBD effects sleep in humans or in rodents.

So lets take a step back and consider how CBD could be beneficial for those with a sleep disorder. CBD is considered to be a phytocannabinoid (Plant derived natural product capable of either directly interacting with cannabinoid receptors or sharing chemical similarity with cannabinoids or both). To put this into simple terms CBD is a natural chemical which influences the brain by interacting with the brain’s cannabinoid receptors called the endocannabinoid system.

So the technical definition for endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a follows: A group of cannabinoid receptors found in the human brain and through the central and peripheral nervous systems, consisting of neuromodulatory lipids and their receptors. It is known as the body’s own cannabinoid system which regulates a variety of physiological processes including appetite, pain, mood, movement, memory, sleep and controlling the psychoactive effects of cannabis.

CBD acts in a very interesting way it tends to make you feel energized and alert. It activates the same adenosine receptors as caffeine, a stimulant. However when it come time to sleep it can assist by making your mind feel relaxed and this enables you to fall asleep. CBD’s anxiolytic (anxiety-inhibiting) properties help make you feel calm which is essential for sleep. It appears that CBD does not directly regulate sleep. At the end of the day many people find by taking CBD an hour or two before going to bed can really help them get a good nights sleep.

Also relating to sleep, somnolence, a state of feeling drowsy or sleepy, has been reported with CBD consumption. While the onset of somnolence may help humans sleep.

Summary of Insomnia CBD Clinical Trials

While the basis for this CBD-and-sleep theory is largely made in rodent studies, some research has been done on sleep-impaired but otherwise healthy humans.

In a 1981 Brazilian study, researchers at the Escola Paulista de Medicina in São Paulo assigned 15 insomniacs to a CBD dose (ranging between 40 mg and 160 mg), placebo, or Nitrazepam, a hypnotic drug indicated for relief from anxiety and insomnia. With the highest CBD dose, sleep significantly increased, although dream recall was reduced, compared to placebo. The reduction of dream recall is presumably due to a reduction of REM sleep, wherein dreams are most active. However you may find that you still have good dream recall if you take CBD and many people have positive dreams.

You may like to read the in depth review on the clinical trials of Sativex which is a cannabis spray (2.7 mg of THC and 2.5 mg of CBD). This trial was set up to learn how Sativex effected pain and sleep.

Epilepsy

Clinical Trial

Often regular prescription epilepsy drugs are not effective treating seizures. Also the regular epilepsy medication can have undesirable side effects. CBD is proving to be very promising in terms of treating epilepsy and significantly reducing the seizures. For children CBD has huge potential as it best to avoid giving THC to children as it can have negative effects for their mental development. CBD is a very safe drug with almost no side effects.

There was a medical trial for a CBD drug called Epidolex (99% CBD) on April 22nd 2015. There were 213 people who were in the trial spread across 11 different sites. Side effects that occurred in 10% or more of the people in the medical trial. These side effects are listed below:

Sleepiness (21%)
Diarrhea (17%)
Fatigue (17%)
Decreased Appetite (16%)
22 serious side effects possible related to Epidolex

From our our customer feedback of our CBD supplements we would expect less side effects than from this drug trial of Epidolex. Sometimes people get some slight stomach irritation which normally dissipates within roughly 10-15 minutes.

You can find out more about the Epidolex drug trial at Epilepsy.com and how medical marijuana can be used to treat Epilepsy.

ADHD

Clinical Trial

I have ADHD and have used Strattera (Concentration) and Estulic (Hypertension) medication which was prescribed by my psychiatrist. I have also used CBD oil and prefer this natural medication over conventional stimulant medication which has been manufactured by a chemist in a lab. To be honest I do not exactly know what the chemicals are in my prescription medication or the long term effects of taking this medication.

The prescription medication is not bad and has definitely improved my life. However I do find I end up sometimes have sore kidneys. I assume this is is a sign my kidneys are working hard to process the medication. Also I have noticed that I am now slightly immune to the medication which is now less effective.

So I thought I would try CBD oil and was so impressed by the results I was inspired to develop the website with my business partner. He has anxiety and sleep issues, he has also benefited from CBD oil. Therefore we are passionate about helping others to be able to purchase strong CBD supplements that are of the highest quality.

The reality is I am happier person when I take CBD and my kidneys do not hurt anymore. I think natural medication like CBD is less taxing on the body. Sometimes natural remedies do not really produce tangible results, but I can honestly say CBD really works. They key is to buy strong CBD products, many companies sell low concentrated CBD which may not really improve your health. It all comes down to dosage and it is almost impossible to overdose on CBD.

If you have ADHD you may also benefit from visiting CannabisforADHD.org and this Facebook page Clinical Trials for ADHD.

There was a clinical trial in London using an almost equal combination of CBD and THC for a drug called Sativex Oromucosal Spray. The clinical trial began on September 2014, if you would like to find out more details on the medical trial click here. The reality is CBD by itself or a combination of THA and CBD may be optimal for your needs. You just need to be careful not to overdose on THC and it is also illegal in many places in the world. CBD is legal in far more places than THC and has less negative side effects.

Summary of the Cannabinoids and ADHD Medical Trial

It is really difficult to find the results on this medical trial but I did find some information on this site.
Almost equal concentration of THC and CBD in the spray which are the two Main chemicals in Cannabis.
“The study was conducted on the premise that “Adult patients with ADHD commonly report an improvement in behavioural symptoms when using cannabis with some reporting a preference towards cannabis over their ADHD stimulant medication.”
A full clinical trial is necessary but the results are encouraging in terms of cannabis being an effective medicine for those with ADHD.
15 people took Sativex and 15 were on placebo.
These are the preliminary findings from Professor Asherson.
Significant improvements in hyperactivity-impulsivity.
Non significant trends for inattention, affective lability and cognitive performance.
Are the positive effects from CBD and side effects from THC?
It would be beneficial to test THC and CBD separately to see what effects each of these chemicals has on people with ADHD.
Cognitive performance increased and did not decline which is key.
A detailed report is currently being prepared (we will update you when it is available).
It appears that the scientists are making positive steps to proving cannabis effectively treats ADHD.
Dosage is the key, otherwise the medication may produce negative rather than positive results.
Hopefully this study is one small step towards medical marijuana being legalized for those with ADD and ADHD.

Anxiety Clinical Trial

Clinical Trial

Anxiety is slowly turning into a psychological disorder at a global scale which at this moment is affecting almost 40 million citizens in the United States alone! That is not something that can be ignored as specifically speaking, that number sums up to being about 18% of the total population of US.

From a financial standpoint, this is not heeding well for the country either, as it has been estimated that around 42$ billion an year, which is roughly 1/3^rd of the country’s total capital, is used up when following the traditional allopathic and synthetic forms of treatment which mostly leads no permanent solution.

For patients who are suffering from the adverse medical conditions that are accompanied by the uncontrollable surge of anxiety, CBD or Medicinal Marijuana is slowly beginning to stack up to them as being a new source of hope across the horizon.

Understanding CBD

First let me take a moment to clear off the very common misconception that plagues mankind which forces them to believe that Marijuana can only be used for recreational purposes. They are, as a matter of fact dead wrong. A regular Marijuana strand is compose of more than 80 different compounds, each with their own attributes, but the two that mostly comes to the spotlight are CBD and THC. The latter is the compound responsible mostly for the euphoric feelings as that strain is highly psychoactive, but CBD in contrast is the biologically active and non-psychoactive strand which has the potential to be used for the treatment of hundreds of potential disease.

How Is CBD helping Anxiety Patients?

When considering the treatment of Anxiety through the usage of medicinal Marijuana, researches have been baffled multiple times because throughout their studies, they found out that while in many cases the usage of Marijuana effectively helps to suppress the side effects of Anxiety; at the same time it also tends to increase them feelings exponentially later on.

It was found that the problem was that they were only focusing on just a single strain for the treatment while a good anxiety killer required the perfect balance of both THC and CBD.

CBD and THC aren’t exactly the best of friends and they generally work at opposite directions when it comes to Anxiety treatment. THC helps to encourage the feelings the paranoia and anxiety after its application, it activates the amygdala of the cranial system, or particularly the brain. When an overdose of these feelings are sensed, CBD then comes into action to tackle the mental state induced by THC, altogether brining down or even completely deteriorating the sensation of anxiety. Scientists are still trying to establish a common ground when it comes to the right balance, but some clinical trials has gone to great lengths to prove that the usage of CBD is in fact very much favorable to tackle Anxiety.

Summary of Clinical Trials

More than 400 years ago, cannabis was used to treat depression and stress relief in India. Specifically, CBD-rich medical marijuana has a long history of being used to treat health problems, including anxiety. The drug’s popularity as a medicine spread through Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Ancient physicians prescribed marijuana for everything – pain relief and even childbirth.
In the 18^th Century, American journals began recommending hemp seeds and roots to treat inflamed skin and venereal disease. Queen Victoria used cannabis to help discomfort for menstrual cramps. An Irish doctor, William O’Shaughnessy, first popularized marijuana’s medical use in England and America. He found it to ease the pain and discomfort for nausea in cases of rabies, cholera and tetanus.
In 1998, the British government licensed GW Pharmaceuticals to grow cannabis and develop a consistent plant to extract use for clinical trials. GW’s co-founder Geoffrey Guy, MD, was convinced that by using CBD-rich plants, GW could make medicine of cannabis that had little or no psychoactive effect.
Another trial which was done most recently by a group of Brazilian Scientists, involved the participation of 10 people who were diagnosed with Social Anxiety disorder. Half of these people were given placebo and half of them were given CBD Oil. The results clearly indicated that the group which was receiving the 400mg of CBD Oil showed significant improvements the reduction of anxiety. The anxiolytic effect of CBD was further proved when the blood flow to the brain was analyzed giving solid reports in the decrease of Anxiety symptoms.

Stress Clinical Trial

Clinical Trial

Let me start by crunching some numbers here for you. It has been statistically shown that the stress level of almost 44% of Americans has exponentially increased in the last 5 years and amongst those 44%, ever 1 in 5 American faces a very severe form of stress which includes signs such as shivering of the body, increased heart palpitations and not to mention, depression. Increased stress not only hampers the lifestyle of an individual, but also increases the risk of a heart attack by 40% and hear stroke by 50%!

So, since this is such a big problem, why aren’t people taking a step towards it for a permanent solution? Synthetic drugs are doing their job of trying to suppress the feelings of stress but are eventually faced with a myriad of side effects in the long run.

Will CBD Help?

The answer to that are both yes and not. After very thorough and long researches, it has been very clearly established that the level of effective treatment which can be achieved through the usage of CBD in terms of Stress depends on a number of factors. Two of them being the level of exposure the Endocannabinoid system of the human body have gone through and secondly, the amount of CBD used for the treatment.

For those who are unaware, the Endocannabinoid system of the human body is the Cannabinoid receptor which is involved in everything ranging from synthesizing to the breaking down of Cannabinoid. The System consists of two receptors, CR1 and CR2. it has been seen that whenever CR1 becomes more active than CR2, CBD starts to have a negative impact on the body and promotes the feelings of Stress. Conversely, when CR2 is in action, CBD helps to significantly decrease the feelings of Stress and greatly relief the user.

Finding the right amount of balance is a very tough task for the scientist, but they are still on the pursuit to seek out the proper borderline for using CBD in treating the symptoms of excessive fear without any side effects.

While some time will still be needed to fully unlock the potential of CBD in this department, there have been some clinical trials that explicitly proved the prospective of using CBD as an alternative effective alternative to synthetic medicines for the treatment of abnormal Stress levels. While most of the tests were carried out on Mice and rodents, some trials were carried out on human subjects and they garnered exceptionally positive results.

A trial conducted during recently as of 2015 in the presence of the Chairman and Chairwoman of Drug Caucus during a session where the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was present provided some very solid evidence regarding the therapeutic efficacy of CBD in terms of Anxiety reduction by experimenting on various model systems of different animals.
During 2011, a double blindfolded clinical trial was performed with the help of 24 volunteers, half of whom were given a 600mg dose of CBD while the other half were treated with placebo. All of these potential subjects were from the same demographic and each of them had some kind of emotional distress, including a very high tendency to stress out under pressure. After the initial treatment was done, all of them were examined through random public interactive sessions where their blood pressure, heart rate and skin conductance were tested 6 times alongside the usage of a subjective rating system using Visual Analogue Mood Scale and Negative Self-Statement Scale. The results were very promising as the ones who were in fact treated with CBD, showed almost no cognitive impairment or discomfort when dealing with the audience. Similar tests were also undertaken previously during the year of 1993 which also garnered very good results.
In 1993, two researches were performed by some well renowned Brazilian Scientists. Their target was to work with the abundance of Cortisol whose levels heightened when animals were put under extreme stress. When they used CBD amongst 11 volunteers, they discovered very pleasing results where they found the CBD greatly helped to lower the Cortisol level which in turn decreased the Stress levels of the test subjects in contrast to the placebo which they were given,
Further Evidence of this was found when a randomized double blinded test was initiated recently using 15 human subjects, of which randomly some were given a 600mg dose of CBD while the other received a placebo. It appeared that CBD seemed to significantly reduce the level of stress when compared to a 10mg does of Delta 9 – THC. CBD seemed to initiate the other receptors such as 5HT1A, including CB2 and TRPV1 both of which were anxiolytic (Stress reducing) response centers. This was very substantial experiment which is holding itself as being the most concrete evidence, supporting the effectiveness of CBD in reducing stress.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trial

Clinical Trial

It shouldn’t come off as a surprise to anyone that ailment known as “Rheumatoid Arthritis” has turned into such a buzz word as of recent years. And why not? It has been estimated that at present, more than 30 million people in America are suffering from some form of Arthritis.

When trying to zero-in on finding out a reason as to why people are all of a sudden being affected by this disease much. Researchers were able to point out some key elements that are largely contributing towards the ascending rate of Arthritis.

The most obvious factor here has to be aging. It has been estimated that female and male who are generally between the age frame of 30 to 60 are prone to being affected by Arthritis. Other than that, today’s harsh environment and stressful lifestyle are also playing a great role here. The saddest part about this is that nowadays even juvenile individuals are being affected by Arthritis as well! At the time of writing, cases of recorded juvenile Arthritis had crossed 300,000.

A brief insight into Arthritis

With all of that said and done, it’s very much understandable that some of you might not be too much familiar with the signs and symptoms of this disease.

Arthritis is primarily of two types, namely: Rheumatoid Arthritis and osteoarthritis. Here, we will be dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

RA is generally cause when there is a malfunction in the body’s immune system that affects the various movable joints of our body, resulting in painful inflammation. The immune system of our body tends to perceive this inflammation as a harmful anomaly and sends in white blood cells to fight it. Bear in mind that these cells are typically released when dealing with germs or bacteria.

The WBC in turn approaches the tissues surrounding the affected area and starts to cause damage to the cells, ultimately wearing them down. This process keeps on going until gradually at some point, the cartilage wears down so much that friction between bones take place which results in painful discomfort and erosion. What’s even worse, is that most cases of RA attack in a symmetrical manner, meaning that the same joint of on both side will be affected.

Similar to most of the other autoimmune disease out there, the main reason for this is yet to be discovered. Scientific developments are principally focused in trying to mitigate the painful experience and fatigue of a sufferer. While synthetic medicines are not doing anything great, it has recently been shown that cannabinoid therapy might be a very strong and viable treatment path for RA patients.

What is Medicinal Cannabis?

Even though the field of cannabis treatment has developed to a greater degree in recent years, many people are still unaware of it and still consider Cannabis as simply a recreational medicine. Let us clear that myth for you.

To properly be able to grasp the depth of the scientific trials discussed here, it is of paramount importance that you understand the Science behind Cannabis.

Starting off, yes Cannabis is in fact psychoactive drug. But that’s not the end of the story. Basically, Marijuana herbs are composed of a large number of different strains (80+), each with their own attributes and medicinal features. However, we are only interested in two of those strains, namely CBD and THC.

The strain which mainly is responsible for the psychoactive effects of Marijuana is THC. On the other hand, CBD is its non-psychoactive cousin which holds a barrage of medical benefits.

We are just scratching the surface here!

How is Cannabis Going to Help?

As much surprising as it might sound, Cannabis actually has been used for the treatment of RA since the 19^th century. Throughout north America, tinctures of CBD were very common in pharmacy shelves and were administered as a pain killer for the treatment of Arthritis.

This anti-inflammatory effect of Cannabis comes from the aforementioned cannabinoids: CBD and THC. It has been observed that not do they bear extremely potent analgesic effect, but they also carry highly effective immune modulation and anti-inflammatory properties.

In the case of Arthritis, THC is acting as a very strong analgesic. Working to reduce inflammation and encourage appetite by invigorating the mental condition of the human mind.

Alternatively, CBD has the same effect as well, minus the psychoactive properties of THC. Which helps to a great extent to induce a comforting sensation that allows people to relieve themselves form the stress and anxiety caused due to the severe arthritis pain.

Another component of Cannabis known as Cannabinol (CBN) also partakes in reducing the Arthritis pain. Even though this is slightly psychoactive, it acts a soothing sedative which allows RA suffers to get a sound sleep.

The Clinical Trials

Just with every other modern discovery. Treatment of arthritis with CBD is still in its early stages and clinical trials are being conducted thoroughly to bring it under the spotlight of the medical community. Some of the more notable ones are:

A study conducted and released around the year of 2011, in the scientific journal for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics was able to deduce that a perfect balance of Cannabis and opiates might have some strong synergistic effect. It was seen that patients who were exposed to both cannabis and opioids together, projected a 27% decrease in pain in contrast to those who were treated with only Cannabis.

Another prominent study which took place in Canada, had a number of patients who were affected by HIV neuropathy and other neuropathic conditions. This study was based on a human model of neuropathic pain. And the results were quiet promising, as the effectiveness of Cannabis was almost as good when compared to normal synthetic medicines.

Another study conducted on mice and rats proved that CBD has the power to suppress the immune response system. This greatly helps in diminishing pain caused by RA.

Further reports came from another study conducted in the Hebrew University, Jerusalem where they were able to figure out that when CBD is metabolized, it created a compound which had extremely potent anti-inflammatory effects. Moreover, it was seen that the actions of this compound was comparable to that any of similar synthetic drug, minus all of the harmful side-effects!

PTSD Clinical Trials

Clinical Trial

A human’s life can never go completely smooth. At one point or the next he/she is bound to experience something tragic that might shock them a leave a mark in their mind. For some individual, coping up with such an event seems to be much easier than the rest. True that they still feel the pain and emotions of the loss, but eventually they learn to let it go.

Unfortunately, though, that’s not the case for the 44.7 million people of America who are suffering from PTSD. These people have experience something so horrific that it has completely scarred them exposed them to building up such a troublesome form of anxiety. What’s even more scary, is the fact every one of nine women of America has been statistically proven to be affected by PTSD.

For a psychological condition that is increasing at such an intense rate, the treatment options for PTSD are still very limited. Synthetic medicines aren’t doing well in alleviating the symptoms of this condition.

All hope is not yet lost though! Thanks to recent developments in the field of PTSD treatment using Marijuana, multiple states has open heatedly accepted PTSD as being a qualified condition that can be treated using Cannabis. This should come as a great news for individuals who are looking for a potent alternative solution to this dire problem.

What exactly is PTSD?

Let us first go through a brief rundown to get you more familiarized with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). So, in a nutshell, PTSD is a form of mental health condition that is triggered when the body experiences severe levels of anxiety due to some kind of past traumatic experience.

Symptoms of PTSD has been known to range from nightmares or flashbacks being induced to uncontrollable “episodes” of panic attacks.

Usually individuals who have gone through radical levels of traumatic experiences such as loss of close ones, sexual assaults and/or major accidents are prone to experience PTSD in their later life.

The extent of stress a person will have to endure during a PTSD episode largely depends on the fluctuations in neural chemistry that occurs during the event of the trauma. Depending on the extremity of the affected situation, the body tends to bring about a varying level of physiological changes influenced by the release of adrenaline and stress hormones which ultimately results in the patient going through Post traumatic stress.

Isn’t Cannabis A Psychoactive Drug?

Before moving forward, this is one misconception which we would like to clear up here. Yes, Cannabis is a psychoactive drug, but there is a science behind this which many are unaware of.

Any given Marijuana substance is ultimately comprised of more than 80+ different chemical compounds. These individual compounds hold project different attributes and characteristics which makes them unique.

Out of the 80+ compounds, the world is primarily concerned about two of them, namely CBD and THC.

THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol is the compound which gives Marijuana its distinct feature of inducing a sensation of “High”. This is a very psychoactive compound but it has its medical benefits as well.

On the other hand, Cannabidiol or CBD is the substance which holds most of the positive medical benefits of Marijuana, with the elimination of any psychotic effect.

When dealing with various diseases, scientists primarily focus on CBD but in terms of PTSD, a subtle combination of both THC and CBD might be required.

How is This Helping?

Although a perfectly valid cure for PTSD is yet to be found, even though the usage of Cannabis. Thanks to a deeper understanding of the body’s endocannabinoid system, Scientists are now hopeful that we might be very close to finding a solution to PTSD through the proper administration of Medicinal Cannabis.

The key thing to understand here is that it has been observed that PTSD levels are being greatly influence by the presence of an endogenous cannabinoid compounds known as anandamide. This compound triggers the same Cannabis receptors in our body that are activated by THC or other marijuana elements.

A co-relation was found here as Scientists were able to deduce that PTSD patients had a significantly lower level of anandamide in their body. Causing them to believe that the endocannabinoid deficiency might be one of the dominant reason of PTSD.

This is where the role of Cannabis comes in. They help to cover up this deficiency which ultimately helps the patient water down the effects of their mental trauma.

But that’s not even the best part! Scientists were also able to discover that the administration of Cannabis might be so effective that it might actually help the patients to completely forget the traumatic experiences altogether!

The Clinical Trials

Since the acceptance of PTSD as a qualified condition viable for Marijuana treatment is a relatively new news, it has been hard for researchers to get their research approved. For this reason, Clinical Trials are yet to be started in full burst. However, the recent updates are as follows

According to a research conducted by Martin Lea from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). PTSD is largely caused due to an endocannabinoid deficiency in our body. Primarily of an endogenous cannabinoid called Anandamide. He found that exposure to Cannabis helps to a great deal to fill up this gap and mitigate the stress caused by PTSD. He has discovered that this might even be able to completely erase the traumatic memories.

An Israeli Researcher and his team conducted an experiment with 10 subjects of were all patients of chronic PTSD. With the inclusion of their traditional synthetic medicine, each of them were administered a small dose of 5mg THC twice a day. It was later confirmed that only 3 out of the 10 subjects had experienced the severe effects of PTSD later on. The final conclusion from this report came to be as “Orally absorbable Δ9-THC was safe and well tolerated by patients with chronic PTSD.”

Another recent breakthrough also came from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies who recently got approval from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, allowing them to conduct a formal and controlled clinical study to confirm the positive effects of Marijuana on PTSD. The study will have a budget of 2.156 million US dollars and will be sponsored by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. This is the first time in history that such a clinical trial for PTSD has been accepted and in the not so distant future, it might be able to bear some pretty solid and convincing news.