CBD oil has rapidly grown in popularity in recent years, making the transition from being a niche product to being widely available on the British high street. As a notable ingredient in many natural remedies, you’ll find people using CBD for a wonderfully wide range of purposes.
This article looks at the origins of CBD and tracks its rise in popularity.
What actually is CBD Oil?
To understand its rise in popularity, let’s start with what
CBD oil actually is. CBD is short for cannabidiol, a phytocannabinoid extracted from the Cannabis Sativa (industrial hemp) plant.
Cannabidiol was discovered in 1940, and although it’s one of 113 identified cannabinoids in cannabis plants, it actually accounts for up to 40% of the plant’s extract.
Hemp: a popular, fast-growing crop
Many people don’t realise that we’ve actually been reaping the benefits of hemp for thousands of years. As a fast-growing crop, it has been a popular choice for producing a range of items, from fibres used for fabrics to hemp seeds and their oil.
Hemp seeds have traditionally been used as bird feed, but in recent years we’ve decided to incorporate them into a variety of products. While hemp seed oil is now used in cosmetics for its moisturising benefits, it has also gained momentum within the health food industry, for instance, as an ingredient in hemp milk (an eco-friendly dairy alternative).
CBD Oil won’t get you highAs we’ve already mentioned, CBD is just one out of many natural compounds found in cannabis and hemp. Because cannabis is a psychoactive drug used for recreational and medical purposes, some people assume that CBD can also get you ‘high’, which
isn’t the case.
Another cannabinoid found in cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — this is the compound responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis, not CBD.
While CBD can be isolated from the cannabis plant and THC compound, it can also be derived from the hemp plant — a non-psychoactive variety of the Cannabis sativa plant grown specifically for the industrial uses of its derived products. As CBD can only be legally sold in the UK if it has been derived from an industrial hemp plant (that is EU-approved or comes from outside the EU), there is no connection between the CBD available to you on the market and psychoactive marijuana.
CBD Oil is legalWith this in mind, it’s understandable why
CBD is legal in the UK.
When a compound is non-intoxicating, its legal status is much more straightforward to define. This is why you can legally buy (and be sold) CBD, but it’s also why the most important guideline concerning its legal status is the requirement that it does not contain more than trace amounts (more than 0.2%) of psychoactive THC.
Mainstream acceptanceCannabidiol is gaining a reputation as a source of several positive effects, helping CBD products win mainstream acceptance.
For instance, although more research is needed,
a few studies have produced results to support the claim that CBD can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in some patients.
With great optimism around CBD’s therapeutic potential in the medical community, it’s not surprising that this once little-known product has dramatically increased in popularity over recent years.
Cheerful Buddha
When shopping for CBD it’s still important to purchase through a reputable company such as Cheerful Buddha.
Our Cheerful Buddha CBD drops have been formulated with CBD extracted from plants grown by our Home Office licensed industrial hemp farmers. We also use supercritical CO2 extraction before our CBD oil is inspected and certified by a top UK lab.
Try CBD for yourself and discover our range of products including our CBD edibles and CBD infused Columbian coffee.