Cannabis health products are everywhere – but do they live up to the hype?

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is now available in the UK in everything from skin creams to beers. But don ’t set your hopes too highThis has been the year medical cannabis hit the mainstream. The government hasannounced that it is relaxing laws on when cannabis medicines can be prescribed by doctors, following high-profile cases such as that ofBilly Caldwell, the 13-year-old boy hospitalised by his epileptic seizures after he was denied legal access to the cannabis oil that helps control them. Meanwhile a new generation of cannabis medicines has shown great promise (both anecdotally and in early clinical trials) in treating a range of ills from anxiety, psychosis and epilepsy to pain, inflammation and acne. And you don ’t have to get stoned to reap the health benefits.Caldwell ’s medicine was illegal because it contained THC, the psychoactive compound that smoking weed socks you with. However, the new treatments under development use a less mind-bending cannabinoid known as CBD (orcannabidiol).Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Health & wellbeing Alternative medicine Medical research Science Cannabis Source Type: news