WASHINGTON — Corner-store cannabidiol “scares the bejesus” out of Dr. Jacqueline French.
French, a neurologist at New York University’s Langone Health, tries to steer her patients away from sprinting to the neighborhood bodega to buy versions of the hemp derivative that’s better known as CBD.
She, like so many other doctors around the country, is torn — on the one hand, there’s scant guidance for how to treat a patient with a CBD supplement, and there are few reputable sellers who can guarantee what they’re selling. There’s not nearly as much science behind those products as with a typical prescription medicine. On the other hand, there is one FDA-approved drug based on CBD, fully cleared based on the agency’s rules for safety and efficacy, with dosing information at least for the patients who have the two types of epilepsy it treats.
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It seems that Epidiolex is a highly refined form of CBD. Epidiolex is derived from a genetically cloned strain of cannabis bred to produce CBD and then carefully refined, according to Friedman (Daniel Friedman, an associate professor of neurology at NYU Langone’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center). This may mean that it doesn’t include terpenes–other substances in CBD which have not been studied.
>>>Chapman, however, is explicitly barred from recommending CBD by his hospital, since it’s not an FDA-approved drug.
It’s not FDA approved? Who edited this article? Epidiolex is brand-name for cannabidiol, approved by the FDA
>>>the Food and Drug Administration’s 2018 approval of Epidiolex, from GW Pharmaceuticals.
I’m sorry that cannabidiol, a non-toxic extract from a natural herb, is so “confusing” for these medical industry professionals.
They’re not confused, however, by the 13,000 deaths per year in the USA from GI bleeding caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.
When I landed in the ICU at Beth Israel, with a team of ER/trauma docs and nurses sprinting down the hallway to save my life from massive GI bleeds caused by NSAIDS, I was very confused.
Fortunately the ER docs were not confused. They lowered an endoscopic laser into my stomach and duodenum and starting firing away to cauterize the breached arteries. They transfused several units of blood into my body and save my life. They sternly advised me never to take NSAID medication again if I wanted to continue living.
Uncharted? Hardly. Maybe you missed researching Cannabis and Indian culture. It’s been around longer than Western medicine.
Best regards,
Well researched and balanced article that doesn’t demonise CBD or overtly promote it’s use. Seems everyone is taking baby steps with this one. Thank you.
““It is [as] if suddenly Prozac was a dietary supplement,” French said.”
In a word, No. CBD is nothing like Prozac. It would more accurate to say “It is as if suddenly Tylenol was a dietary supplement.” Except that Tylenol is more dangerous than CBD.
CBD works on my arthritis pain and reduces my NSAID use by 75% and keeps me from having to use opioids. I want to have open access to affordable CBD, but I don’t want CBD in food and drink, just like I don’t want Tylenol in food and drink.
CBD, like Tylenol, can cause liver damage at very high dosages. Ingesting either chemical unwittingly, in food or drink, can lead to getting dosed too high. With oral ingestion of CBD, because of low bioavailabitly from having to go through the digestive tract, a patient will have to take more to feel its effects. Worse, that higher dose gets sent where it can cause damage, the liver. Vaping or nasal administration of CBD will increase bioavailability substantially and mitigate risk to the liver. Sublingual administration can work, but people tend to swallow the dose before it has been fully taken into the bloodstream. Physicians need to understand this fully in order to guide patients away from oral ingestion of high dosages CBD while also allowing patients to benefit from this extremely promising molecule.
Indeed in Canada the fact that medical mj is legal makes many lives a lot more pain-free, without any hassle or criminal labelling of the user. Medical CBD is regulated, and the big so-called land of freedom ought to pay attention, not re-invent a wheel, and move a heck of a lot swifter – for the benefit of many in pain and/or major discomfort.
I live in Canada, where medical marijuana has been legal for quite a few years now. I have a prescription from a doctor, and I buy my CBD from a licensed medical producer. I can therefore assume that I am getting the amount of CBD that is on the label. Perhaps you folks can learn from the countries where it is legal. Research has been done in Israel and other countries. It’s not the mystery you make it out to be.
CBD products ought to be regarded purely like any other supplement, where users try the merits on their own. What harm is in their benefitting of CBD? When the overblown stigma on CBD finally gives way to freedom of choice then it will be like Ginkgo Biloba, Echinacea, whey, hemp, glucosamine, probiotics, magnesium-calcium etc. One must do research when acquiring those products too – and CBD is no different. The CBD merits are so widely expressed – in all age groups, social ranges, and a vast array of diseases (or at least their symptoms), that one must assume and accept that CBD indeed DOES have a positive effect on the body and mind. Really, what is wrong with that at all? Over-regulation will kill those benefits. Physicians need to indeed lighten up, and read-up (continued education is a must in their field anyway). Isn’t it great if their patients are happier with better managed symptoms?
Accolades to those physician groups who provide education in CBD to their members !
The Florida chiropractic Association has been teaching its physicians CBD integration for over a year,!!! preparing for the new state and federal law approval, now that it has occurred, Florida physicians are ready to move forward on behalf of their patients, this is why the FCA is considered one of the leading healthcare Associations in the United States for physicians