The Race For CBD

Over the last few years the medical interest in Cannabidiol, or CBD has grown and grown.  CBD is often described as the ‘forgotten cannabinoid’ because very few breeders have paid much attention to it until recently.  But all that is changing, and changing fast.  As the international prohibition of cannabis starts to collapse the interest in the medical applications of cannabis has never been as high.  And with a strong medical interest in cannabis there is a very definite interest in the use of CBD.  

Over the last few years the medical interest in Cannabidiol, or CBD has grown and grown.  CBD is often described as the ‘forgotten cannabinoid’ because very few breeders have paid much attention to it until recently.  But all that is changing, and changing fast.  As the international prohibition of cannabis starts to collapse the interest in the medical applications of cannabis has never been as high.  And with a strong medical interest in cannabis there is a very definite interest in the use of CBD.   

CBD has been well received by many parts of the medical cannabis community.  Many Multiple Sclerosis patients rate CBD-rich varieties very highly, as do people with all kinds of ailments from digestive disorders, fits/seizures, skeletal issues, chronic pain, and many others.  Of course, many medical marijuana users will prefer THC-rich varieties, and other still will prefer varieties which offer roughly equal amounts of THC and CBD.  The emergence of CBD-rich varieties in recent years has sparked a wave of interest and research into CBD.  

Mainstream pharmaceutical companies, such as GW Pharmaceuticals with their ‘Sativex’ spray are also getting very excited about the medical applications of CBD and other cannabinoids for a wide range of applications.  And there are many other large drug companies conducting their own research into medical applications for CBD.  But the good news for the home-grower is that they are able to grow their own CBD-rich varieties whilst medical science catches up with the cannabis community.

The first thing to say about CBD is that it is often found at levels of around 0.2% (or less) in many ‘typical’ varieties of weed, alongside THC levels of 12-15% or higher. CBD is often only found at trace levels in many varieties.  Amongst professional cannabis breeders a variety with over 4% CBD is often deemed to be ‘CBD rich’.   

The key to creating CBD-rich varieties is selective breeding and crossing of CBD-rich parents.  Over many generations, and with a great deal of analytical testing and patience you can select the right parents to breed varieties with increasing levels of CBD in them.  Perhaps the key issue getting in the way of amateur CBD breeding has been the need for systematic analytical testing throughout the entire breeding process and involving every plant.  

It has been estimated that only around 1 in 400 cannabis plants is CBD-rich through random genetic variation.  

One of the most popular early CBD developments remains the varieties that offer a 1:1 ratio of THC to CBD.  These varieties typically offer around 7%THC and 7% CBD in the dried buds.  These varieties are popular since they allow the experienced cannabis user to feel all the pleasurable benefits and the strong ‘body stone’ that they will be familiar with.  The 1:1 ratio varieties are also popular with new medical marijuana users since, in small doses, they do not produce the intense cerebral ‘head-high’ which can be confusing for new medical marijuana users who are not experienced pot smokers.  These 1:1 ratio varieties are for many people just as pleasurable as traditional varieties, the effects they produce are familiar to experienced stoners but not too overwhelming for the inexperienced cannabis user.  

However, those looking to use cannabis for paediatric (childrens) medicine have had to go one step further and attempt to breed THC almost completely out of the cannabis plant.  Again, this is a process that can only be done via selective breeding of parent plants which have a known cannabinoid profile.  In simple terms, it is a process of selecting parents rich in CBD and low in THC, often indica varieties are good starting points since they can contain higher levels of CBD than sativa varieties.  It is ironic to see some of the best breeders working so hard to actually reduce THC levels after all these years of doing the exact opposite.  But the world of cannabis breeding is often full of surprises - such as the arrival of automatic varieties in the last couple of years, not least because they are just as strong and heavy yielding as traditional varieties.  Before auto’s, the arrival of feminized seed in the 1990’s was also an unexpected but well-received development.  The emergence of high-CBD varieties is another trend which few anticipated.  Behind the scenes there are some extremely talented cannabis breeders looking for new innovations which will make cannabis growing easier, more convenient and more relevant for the home grower whether they are growing for recreational or medical reasons.

Over many generations of breeding it is possible to produce cannabis plants that can deliver a ratio of 20:1 CBD:THC.  Analysis of the dried buds might show e.g. 12% CBD and 0.6% THC.  This is a 20:1 ratio, and in places like Colorado it is these extreme CBD-rich varieties which are of great interest to parents of children with Dravets syndrome (a rare form of epilepsy), and other conditions.  ‘Charlottes Web’ is such a variety, bred by the Stanley Brothers in Colorado, it doesn’t contain enough THC to get you ‘high’ but the presence of CBD and other cannabinoids is enough to produce some dramatic medical results. In some cases it has allowed children to lead lives free from their previous daily routine of dozens of fits.  In the USA there are numerous ‘medical refugees’ as parents move to Colorado to be free from the persecution of the Police in their own state.  Many medical cannabis campaigners are striving to get these ‘almost zero THC’ varieties reclassified as Hemp so that they can be grown legally in areas where the laws still prohibit cannabis.   Soon we will see these varieties available widely in Europe.  The USA is a few years ahead of Europe when it comes to progressive political thinking on medical marijuana, and the legal status of cannabis in Colorado has really allowed them to bravely pioneer the medical uses of CBD for both adults and children.  

Another country which deserves a mention and has also embraced the medical research into CBD-rich cannabis has been the Israelis.  They have used cannabis for physical and psychological conditions including treatment of their army veterans from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).  Recently the Israelis announced the ‘Avidekel’ cannabis variety containing 15.8% CBD and under 1% THC.  Other countries are also progressing medical research rapidly as the legal and ideological barriers to medical marijuana are slowly being lowered.  It’s important to stress that the medical benefits are not related just to CBD.  Many people have used THC-rich varieties for decades to treat all manner of medical conditions.

The UK remains a unique legal anomaly, much to the frustration of the cannabis users that live there. The UK government allows companies like GW Pharmaceuticals to legally grow thousands of kilo’s of Cannabis in the UK for conversion into it’s ‘Sativex’ spray, yet it prohibits cannabis use even for medical reasons amongst it’s own citizens.    It’s a strange hypocrisy, a legacy of politicians incapable of grasping the fact that prohibition of cannabis does not reduce consumption of cannabis.  It is also a hypocrisy which probably can’t be sustained too much longer.  UK politicians remain significantly behind public opinion when it comes to the use of cannabis for recreational and medical reasons.

There is another way to get CBD, and that is to extract it from industrial hemp.  This has some advantages. Industrial hemp can be easier to get hold of.  The only downside of industrial hemp is that it is generally supplied as compressed blocks comprised of the whole plant, stem, leaves as well as the flowers.  CBD levels are often only around 1-5% in the hemp flowers (depending on the cultivar), and THC levels are much much lower still.  In contrast to industrial hemp, a specially bred CBD-rich cannabis variety can have CBD at levels of 10%-15% or greater in the buds.  

Those breeding the specialised CBD-rich cannabis varieties also claim one other significant benefit of cannabis over hemp, and that is the ‘entourage effect’.  The entourage theory is one which many would like to see scientifically proven, but the theory is that CBD-rich cannabis contains a greater amount of trace cannabinoids (THCV, CBG, CBC etc etc) than hemp.  The presence of these additional cannabinoids is said to offer more benefits than CBD extracted from industrial hemp.  But in the short term we expect that many people will extract CBD from industrial hemp simply because it is often easy, cheap and legal to get hold of.

It is ironic that modern science put men on the moon many decades ago yet we are still filling the knowledge vacuum on medical cannabis.  The lack of information is a sad consequence of the failed prohibition of cannabis.  For decades the only studies on cannabis that could get funding were the ones designed to show the dangers of it. Medical science is only just starting to scratch the surface of understanding the medical value of cannabis.  Instead of having a medical establishment which fully understands the various cannabinoids and their complementary uses we have an absence of knowledge.   

The good news is that things are changing at a faster rate now than ever before and we should not underestimate the political importance of the cannabis legalisations in the USA and elsewhere. As the USA starts to legalise cannabis it is also fulfilling an important role demonstrating to the rest of the world that cannabis can be legally regulated for both medical and recreational uses. 

Maybe one day in the future those politicians that have ignored the medical evidence for cannabis will be called to account.  Meanwhile the belated studies into cannabis, CBD, THC and the other cannabinoids is at last under way.  It will be fascinating to see how the medical science behind cannabis evolves in the coming few years.