Cannabis has had a long and complicated history in the United States. Starting in the 1920s, several states began to ban the use of the herb, eventually leading to a federal ban on the use of the plant for several decades. It wasn't until the 1970s that regulators began to consider the medical applications of cannabis and started to implement medical programs across the country. CBD was not recognized as a medicinal agent for quite some time, and regulators saw all forms of the cannabis plant as medicine, including hemp.
However, with the recent passing of a bill that differentiates between hemp and marijuana, hemp has been removed from the list of restricted substances, giving people open access to it for the first time in over 80 years. The picture is constantly changing, however, as each state has its own laws in response to this federal change. Some states are slower than others in making these changes. To understand why CBD has so many uses, it's important to understand what it is and how it works.
CBD is short for cannabidiol, one of more than 400 compounds found in the cannabis plant. It is arguably the most relevant for medical use. Cannabinoids are a unique class of compounds not exclusive to cannabis plants. You can also find them in plants such as echinacea or helichrysum, but none as abundant as cannabis.
Cannabinoids are classified by their ability to interact with a specialized system of receptors and hormones in the body called the endocannabinoid system. In contrast, cannabinoids that come from plants such as cannabis are called phytocannabinoids. The endocannabinoid system is a regulatory system that indirectly controls a variety of processes in the human body by either increasing or reducing them. This is why compounds like CBD have such a long list of benefits and uses.
By working through the endocannabinoid system, CBD offers a wide variety of benefits to the human body, including regulating stress response, promoting sleep, regulating metabolism and even reducing pain signals sent to the brain. The reason why CBD has so many uses is due to its ability to interact with this centrally regulated endocannabinoid system. This has a ripple effect on the rest of the body, helping to regulate other organ systems throughout the body. Science has come a long way in recent decades to track the benefits of cannabis and its main cannabinoids, CBD and THC (the main psychoactive cannabinoid). Thousands of scientific studies have been published that highlight the benefits of CBD for specific conditions or define its safety.
In light of these reports, people around the world have begun to open up to using CBD as a health supplement with some caveats related to THC, which is found in marijuana plants. Marijuana has had a long and challenging history with respect to legal status in the United States and other countries around the world. To this day, it is still banned in most countries. As times change and more people begin to understand its usefulness, laws are gradually beginning to review its status country by country. In 1970, The Controlled Substances Act was passed in the United States which banned marijuana in all forms of use including medical use. There is a big problem that regulators face with cannabis: some of its compounds are powerfully medicinal while others cause consumers to become high. In the United States change is slow and complicated as cannabis laws differ at both federal and state levels and can vary significantly from state to state.
Some states allow only medical use while others are completely legal for whatever reason; you can even buy products at corner stores, gas stations and vending machines. It's important to pay attention to local laws in your specific state and check for updates regularly as laws continue to evolve around cannabis. There are two main types of cannabis: marijuana and hemp; it's important to make this distinction because it's key in determining whether a product is legal or illegal. Although both types of cannabis are from Cannabis sativa they produce radically different cannabinoid profiles; marijuana plants produce medium-high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is what causes users to become high while hemp plants produce low levels of THC but high levels of cannabidiol (CBD).In light of all this information it's important to know which states have legalized hemp-derived CBD products so you can stay informed about your local laws: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina.
