What is CBD? Why is it getting so much attention? Let's start with a little history.

Cannabidiol (CBD), was first isolated in 1940 by Roger Adams, and chemically identified in 1963 by Mechoulam and Shvo. It is a cannabinoid compound with a similar molecular structure to THC, but with very different and distinct pharmacological properties. 

CBD is a decarboxylation product of cannabiolic acid (CBDA), which shares a common biochemical pathway with THCA; both are derived from CBGA.(the mother of all cannabinoids) Thus, varieties of cannabis with higher levels of CBD have lower levels of THC, and vice versa. 

Naturally occurring in Cannabis sativa flowers for millennia, CBD partially blocks the psychoactive or impairing effects of THC. During the decades of cannabis prohibition when growers sold to an underground market whose chief goal was euphoria and impairment, breeders selected varieties of cannabis with higher levels of THC and lower levels of CBD. By the turn of the 21st century, most cannabis flowers contained very little or undetectable levels of CBD. This remains the case today – the majority of medical cannabis chemovars are THC-dominant and contain little CBD. 

In June 1998, a journalist named Fred Gardner interviewed Geoffrey Guy, MD, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who had received approval from the British government to develop cannabis medicines that would be non-psychoactive due to their CBD content. In 2003, O'Shaughnessy's Journal of Cannabis in Clinical Practice (beyondthc.com) began reporting on promising findings by researchers using CBD-rich extracts provided by Guy's GW Pharmaceuticals. A surprisingly large body of evidence demonstrated that CBD was much more than an undesirable buzz-killer. Research clearly indicated that CBD had great therapeutic potential in the treatment of seizures, anxiety, psychosis, nausea, and inflammation. 

In 2005, GW's first product, Sativex, an oral spray containing roughly equal parts of CBD and THC, was approved in the UK and Canada to treat MS-related pain. Growing interest in CBD’s effects, along with access to laboratory analysis of cannabinoids, drove cannabis breeders in California, and later globally, to discover and stabilize varieties of cannabis with moderate and high levels of CBD. This was identified and reported in the 2008 edition of O'Shaughnessy's. 

Project CBD  was formed in 2010, shortly after a few CBD-rich cannabis varieties were discovered growing in California’s Emerald Triangle. Martin Lee and colleagues were inspired by what they had learned about CBD from scientists at the International Cannabinoid Research Society, and proceeded to introduce CBD-rich medicine to the medical cannabis community in California. While the main focus of Project CBD has always been education, associates of the organization also provided hundreds of clones, either at no cost or for no profit, to growers and producers. Over time those varieties spread to the rest of the country.

Amidst growing scientific investigation into the non-THC and non-impairing cannabinoids, the public’s focus on CBD exploded in 2013 after the airing of CNN’s first cannabis documentary, “Weed." The show followed the story of a four-year-old girl whose treatment-resistant seizures were relieved by a non-impairing, CBD-dominant variety of cannabis. The chemovar was later named “Charlotte’s Web” after her. 

Soon thereafter, entrepreneurs began producing and marketing CBD products across the U.S. and later globally. Describing the products as “hemp,” and striving for levels of THC below 0.2% by weight to comply with hemp laws, producers of oils, candies, capsules and creams claimed legality in all 50 states and began shipping products. The public had been brainwashed to fear cannabis containing THC, but wasn't afraid of the hemp seeds and hemp oil on the shelves of their grocery store. Many believed the false message that CBD is the “medicinal component” of cannabis and THC is merely the “recreational component.”

Since 2013, demand for CBD products and the CBD industry has grown immensely. A recent 2019 analysis from Cowen & Co reported 6.9% of Americans are currently using CBD products and estimated the CBD market will reach $16 billion by 2025.

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