Newsletter - CBD (Cannabidiol) (Patreon)

Hi everyone,

Newsletter time.

I’ve been looking into Cannabidiol (CBD) a bit. It’s apparently been legal in Japan for a while now, but I just recently found out about it because this store near where I live is selling tinctures and vapes. I bought the vape and it seems to make me more chill - I think it turns down the “monkey mind” and I feel less worried about things. In that sense I do see why it’s marketed as an anti-anxiety substance. Yesterday I had written “Though it’s very subtle, almost to the point that I’m wondering if it’s just placebo,” ... but today I vaped about 2/3rds of a cartridge (see below) over about 4 hours. The effects I felt were definitely not placebo -  it’s hard to say how “carefree” I felt, but I felt quite warm, sleepy, and passed out about 2 hours earlier than my bed time. (I suppose I felt carefree enough to go to sleep despite telling myself I’d have this post done within yesterday.)

If you’re not familiar with CBD, simply put it’s a compound found in Marijuana that, unlike THC, doesn’t make you high. It’s supposed to have anti anxiety, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects. It’s a promising candidate for epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis. In fact, an oral solution of pure CBD (Epidiolex) has been approved for treatment resistant epilepsy.[R] It’s being evaluated in clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, social anxiety disorder (we’ll talk about this in a second), and Schizophrenia.

Sounds great but apparently this "panacea" can’t even cure cancer? How lame.

Joking aside, it is quite interesting how CBD has such broad effects. You might think “come on, it’s supposed to relieve anxiety and treat Parkinson’s disease?” In Parkinson’s disease “depletion of dopamine is the most notable neurotransmitter change…”[R], and research has suggested that CBD has effects on dopamine signalling as it’s a partial agonist (partial “activator”) of at least the D2 dopamine receptors.[R] (Not saying this is precisely how CBD has potential for Parkinson’s, just an example to show how it’s not totally implausible that CBD could have an effect on something like Parkinson’s)

The endocannabinoid system spreads all over the body with Cannabinoid 1 and Cannabinoid 2 receptors all over the body and brain.

(Image Credit: TreadWellFarms.com)

In a 2011 study, they fed 12 people with generalized social anxiety disorder 600mg of Cannabidiol and 12 people with the disorder a placebo. They found significantly lower stress responses to a simulated public speaking stress test for the CBD people. In fact, this research found that the acute anxiety caused by THC (the component of marijuana that makes you high) can be ameliorated by giving the person CBD. This rodent study suggests that CBD actually incurs its anti anxiety effects via neurogenesis (growing new brain cells) in the hippocampus (part of the brain with a major role in learning and memory.[R]) Another study found CBD increases blood flow to the hippocampus.[S]

Fun fact: Cannabidiol binds to the CB1 receptor (cannabinoid receptor 1) that THC (the component of Marijuana that makes you high) and antagonizes it[R], reducing the effect of THC. While in Amsterdam I smoked marijuana and it was way too strong for me - I felt like all the parts of my body were far heavier and only had the motivation to get out from my slump in the couch if it was to eat something. At one point I didn't trust myself to breathe automatically so I was breathing manually for a while. I didn’t really enjoy being so incredibly groggy, but maybe if I had some CBD on hand I could have smoked that to reduce the high.

By the way, if you’re interested in trying CBD, keep in mind that the dose they were using in trials was from 300-600mg of CBD, so those “CBD infused chocolates” with like 10 mg of CBD probably won’t do anything. Also apparently, you should shoot for “full spectrum” CBD, not just the isolate.[S]

Another study found that CBD reduces cravings for heroin.[R, article] The researchers thought CBD might have this effect because CBD reduces anxiety, and they had expected that drug users experience some amount of anxiety when presented with a drug cue (say seeing a needle, or walking by an area where they used to buy drugs etc). They found that 800mg of CBD nearly nullified the anxiety induced from seeing a heroin related cue - see picture below. (They had even measured physiological signs of anxiety like heart rate and cortisol).

However, one alarming point about CBD for me is: “Exposure to CBD is associated with a reduction in mammalian testis size, the number of germ and Sertoli cells in spermatogenesis, fertilization rates, and plasma concentrations of hypothalamic, pituitary and gonadal hormones. Moreover, chronic doses of CBD have impaired sexual behavior in mice. From the studies identified in this review, it is possible to conclude that CBD has negative effects on the reproductive system of males.”[R] (There are endocannabinoid receptors in the testicles[R])

As these findings were only found in animals I suppose there’s still some hope that it’s not too bad for human males.[S] Also there was contradicting data in this review. For example, some studies included in the review found reduced testes weight after CBD but some found no effect and one even found increased testes weight. One study found 17 days of 1.2mg/kg of CBD reduced testes weight where 50mg for 5 weeks had no effect.