CBD Use Growing During COVID-19 Era
Even as the CBD industry is still battling legal roadblocks, retrograde ideologues, and giant pharma supporters, Bank of America Global Research recently published that the emergence of the COVID pandemic may have caused a surge in cannabinoid demand.
While analysts are clearly hedging their conclusions, we assert that the growing demand for cannabinoid products is unequivocally related to the emergence of the pandemic.
The uncertainties associated with COVID-19, including the status of the economy, the staggering unemployment rate and social isolation, can all trigger depression, fear and anxiety even in healthy individuals. CBD has consistently shown promise as an alternative therapy for the clinical management of anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.
Studies have demonstrated that the anxiolytic and antidepressant properties contained in CBD may be used to ameliorate the mental and somatic health of patients suffering from anxiety and emotional stress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, patients recovering from the virus frequently experience negative psychological responses potentially triggered by residual chronic inflammation and individual autoimmune reactions.
All the more important is the timing of an article with an arresting headline: Cannabis May Reduce Deadly COVID-19 Lung Inflammation: Researchers Explain Why published this week in Forbes. Its appearance in Forbes, a magazine known for its conservative philosophy and traditionally clashing with the alternative cannabis culture, is undeniable proof that cannabis is gradually and inevitably becoming mainstream. Consumption of cannabinoids, once a fringe lifestyle associated with Venice Beach street performers and hippies, has become the zeitgeist.
The Forbes article refers to research conducted by the University of Nebraska and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, which offers evidence that cannabis-derived CBD’s anti-inflammatory powers may help treat dangerous lung inflammation caused by the coronavirus. The research was published in this month’s issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity and was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
“CBD shows it to be safe and well-tolerated with dosing as high as 1500 mg a day, for a period of up to two weeks”, state the authors of the report, explaining that this “suggests its feasibility to reduce SARS-CoV2 induced lung inflammation/ pathology and disease severity.”
The research conclusions have confirmed the previously conducted studies showing the formidable anti-inflammatory properties of cannabinoids.
Collectively, these findings support the use of cannabinoids as an adjunct added to any new antivirals on SARS/CoVId-induced lung inflammation. If proven successful at reducing inflammation for COVID-19 patients, CBD could be a viable alternative to treat other inflammatory conditions. Furthermore, severely ill COVID-19 patients exhibited multiple neurological symptoms: cerebrovascular disease, headache and disturbed consciousness, brain edema and neuronal degeneration. Studies conducted on non-human primates may help clarify whether and when SARS/CoVID invades the brain, and if so, whether it results in neuroinflammation and if cannabinoids can regulate it.
It’s important to emphasize that CBD doesn't create the psychotropic effects associated with THC and has already been approved by the FDA as safe for children with intractable epilepsy.
Randomized clinical trials testing the efficacy of CBD in treating anxiety and depression associated with COVID-19 and the consequences of the pandemic on people’s physical, social and psychological well-being are continuing all over the globe.
In the meantime, sales of CBD products continue to grow along with consumers’ confidence in cannabinoids as a healthy, viable alternative to traditional pharmaceutical remedies.