You’ve heard me say it before and I will say it again: If you have a condition that could benefit from medical cannabis, please speak to your physician…and most importantly, stay away from illegal cannabis and unregulated CBD products.
In less than six years CBD has gone from virtually unknown, to part of the common dialogue heard every day.
In CNN’s latest special investigation, “Weed 5,” Dr. Sanjay Gupta said: "It is really discouraging to see the results of a recent study in the medical journal JAMA where researchers analyzed 84 CBD products from 31 companies and found 69% were mislabeled. Some of the products had no CBD at all, some had too much CBD, some too much THC."
"Other studies showed that some CBD products contained dangerous synthetics that have been responsible for outbreaks of illness all over the country."
This is just one of the many reasons it is essential that you do not self-medicate and why it is so important to see a licensed practitioner and obtain regulated products.
In Canada, we are fortunate that both the (legal) recreational and medical cannabis streams are tightly regulated to ensure that all products are safe and free from harmful substances. Despite this, there are still products that are sold out of local corner stores, gas stations and of course, the internet, that are not regulated. At best these are a waste of your money and couldn’t possibly offer any health benefit. At worse, they could be potentially harmful, especially if combined with other medications.
If you missed the CNN special on Sunday night, check out this very insightful article from Dr. Sanjay Gupta himself.