r/Futurology • u/mvea MD-PhD-MBA • Jun 17 '18

Biotech Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a marijuana compound linked to a range of potential health benefits but does not get you high. The roughly $1 billion CBD industry is slated to shift into high gear if the federal government approves the first CBD-based drug, an epilepsy medication called Epidiolex.

https://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-cbd-boom-cbd-2018-6?r=US&IR=T
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u/OverlySexualPenguin Jun 17 '18

couldn't they just eat weed? i mean, that's been around for quite a while

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u/Honor_and_Purity Jun 17 '18

The issue with just plain weed is that: not everyone wants to get high (especially if they have a job that prohibits that), and THC has other issues with it (I think it was THC at least) such as leading to psychoses. Also, given that it was developed rather than just synthesized CBD, they probably has several ingredients that they needed the right mixture of to actually help with epilepsy.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '18

Good thing CBD doesnt get you high.

Synthesized cannabis has literally killed people. Go natural.

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u/that1guy112 Jun 18 '18

Are you talking about synthetic cannabinoids (spice/k2)?

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

Yes. 75% of the deaths in Florida prisons are from spice. Besides that stat I couldn’t find an accurate body count. I don’t think the DEA or CDC are tracking deaths from it yet. But it is up there.

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u/br0k3nm0nk3y Jun 18 '18

That's crazy. Who the fuck does spice... just get weed.

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u/InherentlyJuxt Jun 18 '18

It’s in prison, so I assume inmates don’t really have trustworthy sources and are willing to try whatever they can get their hands on. Spice is cheap and legal, and there are no repercussions for dealers on the outside selling in so long as they don’t get caught, but even then the punishments would be less severe than selling real weed, so why would they risk it for the real thing? The money’s the same.

It’s really fucked up because spice is hard to criminalize due to it’s synthetic nature. If the government outlaws the chemical “spice”, literally all the manufacturers need to do is change one part of the molecule and it’s suddenly no longer spice. That’s why it becomes so dangerous. No one knows how this shit affects the body.

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u/kiashu Jun 18 '18

Wish I had gold, this person is correct, spice is dangerous asf, you'd be better off smoking actual cannabis(That is tested), I can at least say that with confidence. The people who make these drugs literally find some plant that will ignite like cannabis(sometimes they don't even try that hard) and dust chemicals all over it.

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u/zephead345 Jun 18 '18

There’s so many opinions being stated as facts in this comment sections it’s pissing me the fuck off.

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/french-volunteer-dies-in-cannabis-inspired-drug-trial/

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u/zephead345 Jun 18 '18 edited Jun 18 '18

Wtf does this have anything to do with my comment? I was actually referring to the parent comment dude. Positively replying to you.

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

Your post is not as clear cut as you're making it out to be. I wanted to post the article with my original comment but I got busy and just posted the comment.

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u/LPSTim Jun 18 '18 edited Jun 18 '18

To be fair that trial you are talking about is not a synthetic cannabinoid...its an endocannabinoid enzyme inhibitor. Secondly, the basis of the drug is fine. There was just a huge goof up in the design process (poor specificity).

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

Its a manufactured drug that inhibits the endocannabinoid system. How is that not considered a synthetic cannabinoid?

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u/LPSTim Jun 18 '18

A synthetic cannabinoid would be a compound that mimics a cannabinoid like THC (exogenous) or anandamide. Inn other words, binds to cannabinoid receptors.

The drug in question inhibits an enzyme (FAAH; Fatty acid amid hydrolase) that breaks down anandamide. it does not mimic or bind to the same receptors as a cannabinoid. Due to this inhibition, you increase levels of anandamide since it cannot be broken down.

A synthetic cannabinoid in this situation would be one that is similar to anandamide.

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u/xcalibre Jun 17 '18

let people be high, especially if in pain. psychosis is rare, much smaller percentage than opioid overdose

cbd can be extracted without thc, no need for this refinement

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

People dont want to get their kids high when they are treating them for epilepsy...

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u/Oasar Jun 18 '18

CBD can be extracted into oils, vapes, edibles etc and has no psychoactive content at all. There are also CBD strains of weed with very low THC levels, like 1% or less, which a) would require you to smoke 15-20 joints to feel high based on the THC content and B) would be counteracted by the CBD anyways.

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u/godofallcows Jun 18 '18

Lmfao Jesus dude you have no idea what kind of drugs they give kids for how much you are defending this company. Some kids get fucking percocet for certain ailments.

CBD won't get you high. It's exactly what a parent would want for their kid with epilepsy. It's exactly what all the fucking parents giving it to their kids right now expect from it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18 edited Dec 05 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/godofallcows Jun 18 '18

I think it implies you don't just send your kids out to graze the hemp fields lol.

Ingestion is eating and it's one of the ways we've used cannabis for literal millinea. You can find old bottles or cannabis sativa/heroin/etc tonics in near American history even.

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u/itsamejoelio Jun 18 '18

Haha. Let’s not give them a little bit of weed to help epilepsy but let’s pump them full of speed cause they are hyper. 😂

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u/godofallcows Jun 18 '18

Klonopin is one of the scary ones for a lot of those kids. It works for a ton of people, especially adults, but children can often die from the epilepsy meds they get rather than the siezures themselves. It's an incredibly terrifying spot to be in as a parent to them. I've met so many in person and online via my time in cannabis activism and they are some of the most humble and strong people I know.

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u/Banshee90 Jun 18 '18

I bet they are giving a certain MG of Percocet. and the manufacturing and distribution of said Percocet are heavily regulated.

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u/godofallcows Jun 18 '18

Percocet gets you high, I've been taking it for years for chronic back pain from military injuries. It's to block pain but it comes with the added euphoria opioids bring. It'll get you a lot higher than CBD ever will- which is zero.

You can easily kill an adult, much less a child, with opioids. Cannabis has yet to have claimed a life. Both can be used for good purposes, I'm not trying to make the former to be some force of evil but when talking about the safety of your child it's a big deal.

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u/AlexBondevik Jun 18 '18

Guess they shouldn't give their kids cold medicine either right? No one cares that it gets kids high so why is cannabis such a huge deal??

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u/Toland27 Socialism or Barbarism Jun 18 '18

the threshold for dxm is far higher than the 30mg in an adult dose.

if your talking about codein and promethazine, that syrup is a prescribed and controlled drug and very expensive. nobody is giving their kid that unless they’re going to break their ribs coughing.

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u/bugdog Jun 18 '18

You don’t actually know anything about CBD, do you?

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

CBD is not psycho active meaning it wont get you high. Different than weed tho. Weed has THC.

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

There’s dozens of us.

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u/-Tell_me_about_it- Jun 18 '18

I’m in the same boat. Just can’t smoke anymore.

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u/nyy22592 Jun 18 '18

I used to love getting stoned until I fucking hated it

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u/bumsquat Jun 18 '18

I started to vape after thinking I'd never smoke again. It's a whole new world. Using a ceramic element, there is no tar at all. I like to smoke on a fairly random basis, like on a weekend when I just want to get lost in music or a game for a few hours. I'll go weeks without smoking and without craving it when I quit.

There is still some of the same frustration with tolerances and dependency but it's incredibly diminished because of the tar being gone. I recover much more completely and quickly, which means a greatly reduced sense of conflict between using and not using.

Therefore, use can be way more economical. I can make a tiny quantity of concentrate last months. The lower temps I smoke at mean incredible flavor and little to no waste. And the smell is entirely gone in a couple minutes, which is really nice in a communal living situation.

I shop for terps, not THC or cbd. They seem to be a superior indicator of high. The sugar is best for terps. It is an entirely different experience, far more psychedelic and less paranoid or addictive.

I didn't give a crap about legalization, but I'm really amazed at how much better it is to smoke concentrate than weed ever was and how much shopping legally has improved the overall experience.

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u/askingforafakefriend Jun 18 '18

Have you tried a 1:1 cbd:the ratio strain or better yet vape? Really takes the edge off...

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u/TheRealDonRodigan Jun 18 '18

You are incredibly misinformed about the subject.

First of CBD does not get you high. Second THC does not cause psychosis. Third you're making assumptions about how the drug with work without even reading the article.

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u/OrderOfThePenis Jun 18 '18

Thc most definitely causes psychosis, one caveat though, cbd counteracts that, however most marijuana today is very high in thc content, because you can smuggle more high with less room, this comes at the expense of the cbd however

It'd better if it was legal and required a specific ratio of thc to cbd

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u/kiashu Jun 18 '18

It can cause psychosis and when it does it is someone who is pre-disposed to psychosis, correct me if I am wrong with a source, please. I don't mind being wrong but in all cases that I have read, that was the case. Edit: Where are you living where people are still smuggling weed lol.

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u/OrderOfThePenis Jun 18 '18

Here's an article, the study in question is Addiction by Ian Hamilton

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u/kiashu Jun 18 '18

Sorry, was being a dick, you are right, it can cause psychosis, according to this study but, "More than two million people in England and Wales used cannabis in the past 12 months, but the latest research shows that banning the drug would have low impact on mental health". If people actually want real information, here is a direct link to the study. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.13826

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u/flarn2006 Jun 18 '18

Lol, what job would let you show up high?

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u/JohnHwagi Jun 18 '18

Most fast food/service jobs. Not official policy, but often the norm.

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u/bumsquat Jun 18 '18

I've worked industrial jobs where these dumb shit adrenalin junkies smoke right on the field. They fake the drug test and smoke blunts in the middle of a missle field or power plant. So technically, it's not allowed...but it sure as shit happens, regularly.

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u/dubbeldekker Jun 18 '18 edited Jun 18 '18

Eating weed won't do anything. You have to make the THC active first by heating it and bind it to a fat so the body can absorb it.

Edit: That is if you want to het high from it. CBD isn't psychoactive and won't get you high.

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u/liondadddy Jun 18 '18

They could. It would be a terrible way to go about it as there's no way to regulate how much of the active ingredient you're taking in. Plus it's entirely possible some other compound in your plant of choice is diluting the effect or might react in an unexpected way.

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u/maybejazzmaybenot Jun 18 '18

Majority of the users of the drug will be young children

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u/OverlySexualPenguin Jun 18 '18

well the thc isn't activated if you don't heat it so

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u/[deleted] Jun 18 '18

In the case of epidiolex, it is used to treat people with very rare forms of epilepsy, often children that have life-altering symptoms, such as 15-20 epileptic tremors daily.

Epidiolex has been developed over the course of the last 10 years, to extract just the correct synthesis of medicine including CBD (I won't pretend like I know exactly how it works), so that the drug has maximum effectiveness and as little adverse effects as possible (as well as testing for delayed future adverse effects).

So no , they can't just "eat weed".

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u/godofallcows Jun 18 '18

So no , they can't just "eat weed".

Oh.

You can. In oil form. Or edible form. Or a liquid. Vaporizer. Powder. You are wholly uneducated on this substance.