CBD oil has become widely available. It’s being sold everywhere from dive bars and bodegas to official medical marijuana clinics for its purported analgesic and therapeutic effects.
Although cannabidiol, or CBD, is derived from cannabis plants, it does not contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
CBD has been promoted as a treatment for a wide variety of ailments, including chronic pain, cancer, migraines, anxiety, and ADHD, and it is available in a wide variety of delivery systems (cbd vape juice, oils, lotions, cocktails, coffee, candies, etc.). When even Consumer Reports publishes guidelines on where to buy CBD and how to use it safely, you know that the product has entered the mainstream.
The number of parents who are using CBD to treat their children’s attention, sleep, and calming issues is growing at the same time that adults are trying it for themselves for a wide variety of issues.
Despite this, there has been surprisingly little study on the safety or efficacy of CBD, especially in children, despite its rapidly expanding popular use. Epidiolex is the first and only FDA-approved medicine derived from marijuana, and it is used to treat a rare and severe form of epilepsy in children aged two and above.
There are risks connected with utilizing goods that have not been evaluated by the FDA, and as cannabis is still in the early stages of legalization and regulation, there is a wide variety in the quality and dose of products.
Cannabidiol: What Do We Know About It?
Hemp plants have been cultivated and harvested for centuries because of their healing properties. United States Pharmocopeia recognized marijuana as a legitimate medical chemical in 1851 for the treatment of epilepsy, migraines, and pain.
There hasn’t been a lot of study done on marijuana or CBD because of the prohibition that went into effect in the United States in 1970. When cannabis was put under Schedule 1, it became extremely difficult to secure federal funding for research on the substance.
Insights Into CBD’s Potential Dangers
Ample anecdotal evidence suggests CBD products have positive effects, but the use of CBD products, especially among children, is not without hazards. Here are a few of the worries:
There is no guarantee that a certain product will provide a constant dose of CBD. Most don’t provide third-party verification of their effective ingredients, therefore they could have less or more of the claimed ingredient than is actually present. Analyses of commercially available products reveal that many do not contain the levels of CBD they claim to contain.
What percentage of that is actually taken in? How much CBD a certain product actually provides to the brain is mostly unknown. The absorption rates vary depending on the method of administration (vaping, oral consumption, ingestion of baked goods, cbd living water etc.). The effects of CBD can vary depending on the oil used to dissolve it.
Products may contain dangerous additives in addition to CBD. There are certain states that do not require lab testing of CBD products, which would reveal information about the CBD and THC content as well as any contaminants.
A Certificate of Analysis (CoA) is required to confirm the product’s safety. Recent lung ailments and deaths that have been related to vaping may have a connection to CBD. While the root cause of these diseases is being researched, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association advise against using electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices.
While CBD cigarettes alone may be harmless, it could potentially interact with a child’s other medications if they are also processed in the liver.
Given the novelty of CBD usage, it may be difficult to gauge an appropriate dosage for your child. This is especially true in the case of CBD use among children. It’s possible that the doses you get in a hospital are very different from those you’d get in a coffee shop.
It is still unclear whether or not CBD and other cannabis products are legal. Although cannabidiol (CBD) extracted from hemp is allowed on a federal level, CBD from marijuana plants is not and is prohibited in all but a handful of states. Meanwhile, the FDA published a statement clarifying that CBD products, even if derived from legal, commercial hemp, cannot claim to have therapeutic effects or be sold as dietary supplements unless they have been approved by the FDA for such use.
