~Basil

https://breakthematrix.com/post/458?mc_cid=b480adfdbe&mc_eid=6fc0a6c738

Move Aside, CBD: New Data Finds THC Is the Real Medicine in Medical Marijuana

CBD is marketed as a cure for what ails you but actual medical marijuana patients say it's THC that relieves pain.

Over the past 20 years, a simple narrative has emerged about cannabis: CBD is the medicine in medical marijuana, now available in 34 states, and THC is the intoxicant in adult-use marijuana that’s legal in 10 states. Two different compounds; two different markets.

That narrative, along with the groundswell of belief in the curative properties of CBD (cannabidiol) as it’s being added to every sort of food, beverage, cream, potion, and lotion, drove more than $600 million in sales in 2018. And according to an analysis by the Brightfield Group, the CBD market is projected to grow to $22 billion by 2022 -- a number fueled by the recent federal legalization of hemp, from which cannabinoid can be derived. Reinforcing the cannabis duality, under the new law all things CBD must essentially be free of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol); hemp cannot exceed 0.3 percent of the psychoactive compound.

But new research is throwing a giant curveball at all this. Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the study analyzed data from more than 3,300 medical marijuana patients who used an app called Releaf to track how various products -- flower, tinctures, edibles, etc. -- affected their symptoms. Over 21 months, every time subjects consumed a product, they recorded the ratio of THC to CBD listed on the label, and the relief in their symptoms, which ranged from anxiety and depression to chronic pain and seizures.

The researchers found that among nearly 20,000 sessions recorded by patients, the average improvement of symptoms was 3.5 points on an 11-point scale that went from zero (not detectable) to 10 (severe). But the zinger was this: The higher the THC level, the more relief the patients got -- which was not true of CBD. “In our study, CBD appeared to have little effect at all,” says coauthor Jacob Miguel Vigil, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of New Mexico. “But THC generated measurable improvements. ……