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Cannabis is supposed to be relaxing and fun. What’s not to like about giggles, munchies, and a brief break from the mundane? Unfortunately, the news from California’s Emerald Triangle is anything but upbeat these days.

Report after report portends doom with headlines like “the world’s largest legal weed market is going up in smoke” (The Economist), “California pot industry facing ‘extinction event‘” (SF Gate), and “Despair in Emerald Triangle as CA legal cannabis collapses” (CalMatters).

Is It Really That Bad?

Yeah, it is.

Legal sales have been on a downward slide for over two years with no signs of relief on the horizon. At its roots, the main cause appears to be the overwhelming dominance of the illicit market, which is estimated to be twice the size of the regulated market (Politico).

The result: Cascading business failures across the industry.

Project CBD recently reported on studies indicating that cannabis terpenes — the compounds that give the plant its robust and distinctive smell — activate the CB1 cannabinoid receptor. What’s more, in the presence of THC (also a CB1 agonist), terpenes appear to modulate cannabinoid activity in varied and interesting ways.1,2 Today we focus on spicy-peppery beta-caryophyllene (BCP), one of the most common cannabis terpenes, which acts on several targets that impact the endocannabinoid system, not just CB1.

BCP is also a component of black pepper, basil, oregano, cinnamon, hops, rosemary, cloves, and citrus, as well as many leafy greens. Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use as a flavoring and fragrance agent in food, this powerhouse sesquiterpene has been the subject of considerable medical-science research. Recent papers explore the potential role of BCP in treating a wide range of conditions including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic pain, and substance abuse.

A “Dietary Cannabinoid”

Beta-caryophyllene, a weak CB1 agonist, is what scientists refer to as a “full agonist” at the CB2 cannabinoid receptor, which plays an important role in regulation of immune function and inflammation. Its presence in many foods and spices and its strong affinity for CB2 has earned BCP recognition as the first known “dietary cannabinoid.”

Multiple studies have shown that beta-caryophyllene also interacts with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs, pronounced pee-parrs) located on the surface of the cell’s nucleus. CBD also activates these receptors, which regulate metabolism and energy homeostasis.

Given the role of PPARs and the endocannabinoid system in modulating metabolic processes, a group of researchers based in Turin, Italy, wanted to see if BCP was effective in a cellular model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the most common chronic liver disorder worldwide with a global prevalence of more than 30%.3

Biblical scholars have written about the role of cannabis as a sacrament in the ancient Near East and Middle East. Archeological evidence confirms the use of the plant in fumigation rituals in ancient Israel. Scriptural references indicate that cannabis was a key ingredient in the holy anointing oil employed in religious rites. But Yahweh, the Almighty Jealous God, frowned upon the idolatrous use of cannabis, the polytheistic drug of choice. The Old Testament chronicles the embrace of One God instead of many, a major shift that coincided with the displacement of cannabis as a ceremonial substance, as Chris Bennett reports in his latest book, Cannabis: Lost Sacrament of the Ancient World.

Humankind’s connection to cannabis reaches back tens of thousands of years. The role of cannabis in the ancient world was manifold: with its nutritious seeds, an important food; with its long, pliable strong stalks an important fiber; as well as an early medicine from its leaves and flowers; and then there are its psychoactive effects . . .

Due to its usefulness, cannabis has a very long history of human cultivation. How long, exactly, remains unknown. “No other plant has been with humans as long as hemp,” says ethnobotanist Christian Rätsch. “It is most certainly one of humanity’s oldest cultural objects. Wherever it was known, it was considered a functional, healing, inebriating, and aphrodisiac plant. Through the centuries, myths have arisen about this mysterious plant and its divine powers. Entire generations have revered it as sacred . . . . The power of hemp has been praised in hymns and prayers.”

The Great Leap Forward

There has been interesting scientific speculation that the psychoactive properties of cannabis played a role as a catalyst in the “Great Leap Forward,” a period of rapid advancement for prehistoric humanity, which started about 50,000 to 65,000 years ago. In their fascinating paper, “The Evolution of Cannabis and Coevolution with the Cannabinoid Receptor — A Hypothesis,” Dr. John M. McPartland and Geoffrey W. Guy explain how ingestion of this plant may have aided prehistoric humans. “In a hunter-gatherer society,” they write, “the ability of phytocannabinoids to improve smell, night vision, discern edge and enhance perception of color would improve evolutionary fitness of our species. Evolutionary fitness essentially mirrors reproductive success, and phytocannabinoids enhance the sensation of touch and the sense of rhythm, two sensual responses that may lead to increased replication rates.”

The authors postulate that plant compounds, which interact with the human body’s endocannabinoid system, “may exert sufficient selection pressure to maintain the gene for a receptor in an animal. If the plant ligand [plant-based cannabinoid] improves the fitness of the receptor by serving as a ‘proto-medicine’ or a performance-enhancing substance, the ligand-receptor association could be evolutionarily conserved.” In essence they are suggesting that there’s a coevolutionary relationship between “Man and Marijuana” — and that somehow as we have cultivated cannabis, it may have cultivated us, as well.

Ten years ago, most cannabis consumers couldn’t tell a terpene from a cannabinoid. But today things are different. Cannabis flower is categorized according to terpene profile. Product manufacturers add terp blends back into edibles and concentrates. Limonene is practically a household name.

And for good reason. Terpenes impart desirable flavors and aromas. And they appear to be good for the body, as well.1 Now it turns out that some terpenes also may contribute to the cannabis high.

A 2021 study2 by University of Arizona scientists concluded that certain terpenes are “cannabimimetic” (in a mouse model of cannabis intoxication) and can selectively enhance cannabinoid activity.

And this month comes a brand-new paper in the journal Biochemical Pharmacology3 by Israeli researchers who report that three cannabis terpenes — at concentrations similar to those found in actual cannabis plants — significantly boost THC signaling at the CB1 receptor.

CB1 Activation

Using an in vitro cellular model, the Israeli team compared CB1 receptor activation by 16 different cannabis terpenes to that of THC alone and to THC-terpene blends with a botanically relevant ratio of 10:1.

Special glands protruding from cannabis flowers express a series of unique molecules. Cannabinoids, as they are known, exist in cannabis.  But it turns out that identical molecules are present in non-cannabis plants, as well.  Researchers from Israel’s Weizmann Institute recently reported that they found cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) and other rare cannabinoids in Helichrysum umbraculigerum, a perennial shrub informally known as the woolly umbrella.1

A South African Botanical

Ferdinand Bohlmann and Evelyn Hoffman first discussed the chemical irregularity of Helichrysum. In a 1979 paper published in Phytochemistry2, they analyzed the South African species H. umbraculigerum, native to the eastern part of the country, where it was used in traditional medicine and fumigation rituals.

Bohlmann and Hoffman asserted that the plant’s tops — both leaves and flowers — produce cannabis-specific compounds. But a follow-up study conducted by Italian researchers in 2017 failed to find CBG or its acidic precursor in H. umbraculigerum flowers. They did, however, identify an analog of CBG known as Heli-CBG (also present in some fiber hemp varietals), which binds to the CB2 cannabinoid receptor.3,4

In a May 2023 article in Nature Plants, Weissman Institute scientists confirmed that woolly umbrella produces CBGA in trichomes on its leaves, but hardly any CBGA was present on its flowers. That’s different from cannabis, where CBGA and other cannabinoids are concentrated in trichomes on flower tops.1

Trichomes found on cannabis inflorescence (flowers) have a special cellular build, according to a 2022 study by University of British Columbia researchers in Current Biology. The gland’s bulbous head holds large porous cells that let acidic cannabinoids (CBGA, CBDA, THCA, etc.) move through the trichome.5 The Weizmann Institute team reported that H. umbraculigerum produces a similar cannabinoid transport network on its leaves.1

Recently I was chatting with a friend who is casually interested in psychedelic science. He told me he hadn’t read as much coverage of psychedelics in popular magazines and other mainstream outlets lately, and asked whether research has slowed. My response? Not at all.

According to Pubmed, the online repository of the National Library of Medicine, last year saw far more papers published on psychedelics than ever before — about 33% more than in 2021, which itself was a 19% increase over 2020. And this year is well on pace to surpass 2022.

Every day another email arrives in my inbox with word about the latest papers, many of which address the promise of psychedelic-assisted therapy for depression, addiction, PTSD, and other mental health disorders.

But dig deep into the scientific literature and you’ll find plenty of outliers and oddities that have nothing to do with therapy per se, covering fascinating subjects like psychedelics for headaches or color-blindness; “entity” encounters; and the still-mysterious question of what, exactly, these compounds do to the brain.

Mood-Elevating Microdosing

Whether microdosing psychedelics can help people in meaningful ways independent of the placebo effect continues to be a subject of debate. A March 2023 paper in the journal Biological Psychiatry1 adds to the discourse by reporting that in a placebo-controlled study of 40 healthy male volunteers, microdosing LSD improved self-reported ratings of creativity, connectedness, energy, happiness, irritability, and wellness on dose days relative to non-dose days. However, microdosing was not sufficient to promote enduring changes to overall mood or cognition. Nor was it entirely harmless. Seven of the 40 participants reported treatment-related anxiety, and four dropped out as a result.

This transcript is adapted from CannMed’s weekly podcast, hosted by Ben Amirault, who recently interviewed Bonni Goldstein, MD, one of the country’s most respected and experienced medical cannabis physicians. Dr. Goldstein has treated thousands of patients with medical cannabis. She is the medical director of Canna-Centers Wellness & Education and the clinical advisor to Cannformatics. She is also the author of Cannabis is Medicine: How Medical Cannabis and CBD are Healing Everything from Anxiety to Chronic Pain. Dr. Goldstein will be leading the Medical Practicum at CannMed 2023 (May 15-17), where she will also be speaking about CBG and other minor cannabinoids during the main session.

Ben Amirault, CannMed: I wanted to discuss one of the so-called minor compounds that you’ll be covering during your talk at CannMed this month. You have said that cannabigerol, or CBG, is one of your favorite cannabinoids. Why?

Dr. Goldstein: It appears that CBG does a lot of things that THC does and a lot of things that CBD does — but maybe even a little bit better. It’s kind of a bridge between THC and CBD. CBG is not intoxicating or impairing. It seems to be effective at lower doses compared to CBD. And it does appear to address some of the main issues that people turn to cannabis for — inflammation, pain, anxiety, sleep problems, depression, and cancer. So, like it checks all the boxes, especially for people who don’t want to get high and who don’t have the ability to pay for very high doses of CBD.

CannMed: It’s interesting that you say CBG is a bridge between THC and CBD. Is that because CBG is a precursor for the other plant cannabinoids?

Dr. Goldstein: CBG’s parent compound, cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), is kind of known as the mother of all the cannabinoids in that it’s the compound that’s found in immature cannabis flower. And then, based on the genetics of the plant and the enzymes that it’s exposed to, CBGA changes into CBDA and/or THCA, which turn into CBD and THCA when heated. CBGA hasn’t really been studied very much. I would say it is highly understudied. But I suspect that we will eventually find out that CBGA has some very interesting anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. We don’t know really know yet. But at least CBG is being studied. I constantly look at the scientific literature, and just this year there’s a study published from Israel on how CBG may be helpful for multiple sclerosis. And there’s another study that looked at CBG’s mechanism of action in terms of how it works for pain and inflammation. So, there’s a lot of interest in CBG, which is really exciting.

In 2013, Noriko Shinjyo, Ph.D., a Research Associate at Chiba University in Japan, coauthored a study with Italian scientist Vincenzo Di Marzo on cannabichromene (CBC), a phytocannabinoid that exerts profound effects on the nervous system.1

Published in Neurochemistry International, their paper probed how CBC influences the fate of adult neural stem progenitor cells, which are described as “an essential component of brain function in health as well as in pathology.” As stem cells mature, they change and differentiate into new neurons and other cells. CBC was shown to have a positive effect on neural stem progenitor cells during their maturation phase, according to in vitro research.

Recently a different group of scientists has followed up on this decade-old discovery by delineating seven mechanisms through which CBC is able to protect and regenerate the nervous system. They reported their findings in Life, a Swiss scientific journal, noting that CBC, a “neurogenesis enhancer,” enables stem cells “to sustain their viability and differentiation.”2

What Are Neural Stem Cells?

Scientists have identified specific areas of the brain — the hippocampus and the lateral ventricles — where neural stem cells are created. These cells undergo a maturation process, known as differentiation, which is an important stage for young cells located in the spinal cord, brainstem, and brain regions programmed for muscle control. Young stem cells evolve into new neurons, but they can also form cells that comprise the protective sheath surrounding nerves.

Some neural stem cells differentiate into astroglial cells, also known as astrocytes. These abundant star-shaped cells populate the grey and white matter of the brain, where they regulate cerebral blood flow and the transmission of electrical impulses. They also play a crucial role in maintaining the blood-brain barrier and repairing the brain and spinal cord following an infection or a traumatic injury.

If you’ve been to our website before, you’ll see it’s much easier to navigate now, thanks to the talented folks at Blue Dream, Ganjapreneur’s in-house creative agency.

You’ll also see that we have significantly increased our medical conditions-related content.

“The new Project CBD website is designed to make their educational content more accessible and discoverable,” explained Noel Abbott, CEO of Ganjapreneur and strategic advisor for Blue Dream. “It also includes an updated marketplace for ethical CBD brands to showcase their products.”

Migrating from another content management system and rebuilding our entire website was a huge job, encompassing our Japanese and Spanish language platforms, as well as more than 750 original articles in English.

The Project CBD team knows a lot about the cannabis plant but very little about website design and search engine optimization. The Blue Dream team has been a fantastic partner with much-needed expertise in those areas. 

Cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 are the definitive and best-known targets of endogenous and plant-derived cannabinoids, but they’re far from the only ones.

Several phytocannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD), for example, and the two primary endocannabinoids — anandamide and 2-AG — have been shown to interact with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, or PPARs1 (pronounced pee-parrs), which are found on the surface of the cell’s nucleus. This may help to explain how CBD, which has little affinity for either CB1 or CB2, can do so much.

Get to Know the PPARs

PPARs are a group of nuclear receptors that play important roles in regulating metabolism, inflammation, and gene expression. Triggered by hormones, endocannabinoids, and other fatty acid derivatives, and various nutritional compounds,2 PPARs are expressed in different parts of the body:

The first evidence of an endocannabinoid interacting with PPARs came in 2002, when a research team in Tennessee showed that a metabolite of 2-AG activated PPAR-a.3 Since then many more breakthroughs have been made, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors are now viewed as an extension of the classic endocannabinoid system (ECS).

PPARs are now viewed as an extension of the classic endocannabinoid system.

It has long been known that resinous cannabis flower tops are infused with robust therapeutic properties. But there are also pharmacologically active components in other parts of the plant that shouldn’t be ignored when assessing the health benefits of cannabis.

The earliest reference to the therapeutic use of cannabis dates back to 2700 BC in ancient China, “the land of hemp and mulberry.” Cannabis (“Ma”) was subsequently included in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing, humankind’s first pharmacopeia, which had been assembled by Emperor Shen Nung, the legendary father of traditional Chinese medicine, who is credited with introducing the custom of drinking tea. Ma was recommended for more than a hundred ailments, including gout, rheumatism, malaria, constipation, beri-beri, and absent-mindedness.

The Shennong Ben Cao Jing called Ma one of the “Supreme Elixirs of Immortality.” It was said to confer longevity and good health. If consumed over a long period of time, Ma could “enable one to communicate with the spirit light and make the body light. It mainly supplements the center and boosts the qi [chi]. Protracted taking may make one fat, strong, and never senile.”1

When consumed in excess, however, “it may make one behold ghosts and frenetically run about.”

Seeds of Health

In traditional Chinese medicine, protein-rich cannabis seeds figured prominently both as a food source and a remedy — apparently more so than resinous cannabis flower tops. The seeds don’t contain CBD, THC, or any other cannabinoids. But modern science confirms that cannabis seeds are an excellent source of omega 3 fatty acids, which are indispensable biochemical building blocks for a healthy endocannabinoid system.

This is first of an occasional column that updates developments pertaining to articles previously published by Project CBD. We start with some positive news from the Golden State. Then a follow-up on our investigative report about Curaleaf, the world’s biggest cannabis company. And freedom of expression takes a hit when it comes to cannabis advocacy in the Czech Republic.

Plastic Pollution in California

Inspired by Project CBD’s exposé, “Bag the Tags” (June 29, 2022), California state senator Ben Allen has introduced a bill to end the onerous requirement to apply a plastic tag to every cannabis plant grown by licensed cultivators, as is currently mandated under the state’s track-and-trace program. Sponsored by CannaCraft, Inc., a major cannabis producer (and longtime friend of Project CBD), and supported by several organizations including the National Product Stewardship Council and the California Cannabis Industry Association, Senate Bill 622 seeks to mitigate unnecessary labor and operational costs for cannabis cultivators, while eliminating the creation of millions of pounds of plastic waste that can’t be recycled.

As Project CBD reported last year: “With over 2,000 acres licensed to grow cannabis, California cannabis farmers put between 30 and 55 million plants in the ground every year. The tags are the definition of ‘single use’ – they can only be used on one plant and never re-used during subsequent growing seasons. That’s a lot of plastic tags for an industry with green pretensions.”

The ostensible purpose of imposing the tag rule was to monitor cannabis grown in California to make sure that it would not end up in the illicit market within or outside the state. But the factsheet summarizing SB 622 emphasizes that “individual plant tags are completely ineffective in preventing diversion.” Why? Because cannabis can’t be diverted until the plants are harvested! And the tags are removed and discarded after they are pulled from the ground.

The SB 622 factsheet asserts: “In a state that prides itself on championing environmentally sensitive initiatives designed to stop climate change and improve the environment, it is antithetical and irresponsible to continue to mandate plastic plant tagging, which does nothing to prevent diversion.”

In the first part of this series, we reviewed recent research into the role of the CB2 cannabinoid receptor in cancer proliferation. This week we turn our attention to another fascinating aspect of CB2 function: its impact on psychiatric and mood disorders despite not being concentrated in the central nervous system (CNS).

After all, the CNS is the domain of its sibling, the CB1 cannabinoid receptor — the primary target of THC and the mediator of cannabis’ intoxicating effects. CB2, by contrast, is more prominently expressed in the peripheral nervous system, where it regulates inflammation, pain, and neuroprotection. CB2 is found to a much lesser extent in the brain, where it modulates dopamine signaling, neuroinflammation, and neurogenesis.

The CB2 receptor was of particular interest to visionary cannabinoid scientist Raphael Mechoulam. In the year prior to his recent passing at age 92, Mechoulam was still actively involved in research investigating CB2 in a variety of disease models. Here we look at a couple of his final papers on CB2 and mental health, as well as two related reviews published in the same timeframe.

CB2 & Schizophrenia

First comes a paper on CB2’s role in schizophrenia, a condition related to psychosis whose symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, social withdrawal, decreased emotional expression, and apathy. Coauthored by Brazilian scientists affiliated with the University of São Paulo, it appeared in the journal Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry1 in July 2022.

“The CB2 receptor modulates dopaminergic neurotransmission, which is abnormally enhanced in schizophrenia patients,” the authors explain. That much is clear. Given this, they wanted to know, how might “HU-910,” a synthetic research compound that selectively activates the CB2 receptor, affect behavior in a rodent model of the disease?

The cannabinoid receptor CB1, primary target of THC in the brain, is known for mediating the cannabis high. And its counterpart CB2, mainly expressed in immune cells throughout the body, is understood to play an important role in inflammatory processes. These abstractions are accurate as far as they go, but as with anything related to the endocannabinoid system, reality is far more complex.

Project CBD’s recent article on the passing of Raphael Mechoulam noted that the esteemed scientist believed CB2 should be a focus of future cannabinoid science. The CB2 receptor interacts with THC, CBD, endocannabinoids, and other compounds in a multitude of organs including skin and bone.

Recent research — including papers co-authored by Mechoulam well into his 80s — has confirmed that aberrant CB2 signaling is implicated in a raft of autoimmune, neurodegenerative, metabolic, and psychiatric disorders. CB2 is also an increasingly hot topic in cancer research.

In this two-part series, Project CBD will explore some of the latest studies and what they reveal about what we know — and still don’t know — about this ubiquitous, somewhat mysterious cell receptor.

This week: cancer. Next week: cognitive and mood disorders, including some of Mechoulam’s final work before his death in March at the age of 92.

Recently my wife returned from a night out with a ringing in one ear and significantly diminished hearing. It was a sure sign of injury caused by standing too close to a speaker. She was upset with herself for being so careless and concerned that the condition would persist. For the next couple days, she got extra sleep to aid recovery, and for good measure took an extra dose or two of CBD.

For many other people of all ages, tinnitus is indeed a chronic condition that has nothing to do with loud ‘80s cover bands in small clubs. Risk factors span a wide range of physical and psychological conditions including concussion, smoking, certain medications, ear infection, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and, most commonly, age-related hearing loss.

And it’s not just ringing. Technically, tinnitus (pronounced tih-NITE-us or TIN-ih-tus) is the perception of sound originating from within the nervous system that’s unrelated to external stimulation. Tinnitus can also be experienced as buzzing, whirring, humming, whooshing, clicking, and hissing. Whatever the precise nature of the phantom sound, it often comes with a constellation of symptoms related to the disruption such a condition can bring: sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, low mood, etc. Estimates vary, but tens of millions of people in the United States alone likely suffer from chronic tinnitus.

My wife’s ringing tinnitus did fade, and her hearing gradually improved over the course of a few days. The CBD she took may or may not have helped, but according to a recent survey of tinnitus patients, she wasn’t alone in trying — or at least in being interested in cannabis as a potential remedy.

Auditory & Other Symptoms

The survey, whose findings were published in February 2023 in the Journal of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery1 evaluated cannabis perceptions and consumption among 45 adult tinnitus patients randomly selected and recruited from an outpatient ear, nose, and throat clinic in Ontario, Canada.

I was fortunate to cross paths with Raphael Mechoulam, “the father of cannabis research,” at several science conferences over the years. The most memorable occasion was the 22nd annual meeting of the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) in Freiburg, Germany, in July 2012. Mechoulam delivered a plenary speech at the symposium, addressing the future of cannabinoid research and key areas of study that should be pursued.

It was exactly fifty years earlier, in 1962, when Mechoulam launched his scientific investigation into the chemistry of cannabis. In 1963, he and Yuval Shvo first reported the molecular structure of cannabidiol (CBD). And the following year Mechoulam coauthored a paper that elucidated the molecular structure of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Although he didn’t know it at the time, Mechoulam had lit a slow burning fuse that would detonate a revolution in medical science.

As a young scientist, Mechoulam set out to understand how cannabis works; he ended up unlocking a treasure trove of information about how we work. Known affectionately as “Raphi” to many of the scientists he mentored, Mechoulam tirelessly promoted cooperation between researchers around the world to advance the study of the body’s “endocannabinoid system,” which produces chemicals similar to THC, CBD, and other plant cannabinoids, and mediates their effects.

In 1992, Mechoulam’s research group at Hebrew University in Jerusalem discovered an endogenous THC-like compound that activates receptors in the mammalian brain. He named it “anandamide,” the bliss molecule. And in 1995, Mechoulam and his team identified a second endocannabinoid compound, 2-arachidonoyglycerol or 2-AG for short. Anandamide and 2-AG are part of an internal lipid neurotransmitter system that regulates a wide range of physiological processes, including appetite, mood, pain perception, and immune function.

“Planning Research for the Next Half Century”

“It’s time to plan ahead for the next half a century,” Mechoulam, age 81, told the Freiburg ICRS attendees, who had gathered to honor his 50 years as a pioneer cannabis scientist. Mechoulam cited three specific areas that should be research priorities: CBD, the CB2 cannabinoid receptor, and a cluster of endogenous fatty acid compounds in the brain that he referred to as FAAA’s.

At first glance, Cannabis Textiles is a quiet, unassuming book, without slick, staged photos or superlative descriptions of indigenous cultures. Such simplicity reflects the book’s inner beauty, which documents the history of a disappearing handcraft, that of traditional hemp cultivation and fabric production.

Skoglund’s book focuses primarily on indigenous hemp cultures in Europe and Asia. Her passion for hemp was lit while pursuing her Master’s thesis studies at the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås and in Uppsala, Sweden in the 1970s, when she discovered a significant absence of recorded information on traditional hemp craft.

“It was almost taboo to talk about hemp, because it was intimately connected to drugs and was banned in Sweden [until 2003],” she told Project CBD.

Skoglund began to weave with hemp yarn herself, while scouring the historical record for mentions of the craft. She used DNA and microscopic testing methods to determine the fiber content of a number of antique textiles kept in museums and archives, and found many that were made completely or partially from hemp fibers. 

A Bast Fiber Plant

Long before 1842, when William O’Shaughnessy brought psychoactive cannabis indica from India to the West, a type of cannabis commonly known as hemp was grown in kitchen gardens across Europe and East Asia, “near castles and monasteries, mansions and simple farms,” writes Skoglund. Hemp, a bast fiber plant, was cultivated for its seeds and medicinal properties, but mainly for its fiber. Fiber from other bast plants, such as flax and hops, was often blended with hemp fiber.

Have you heard of Celtic Hemp? In a recently published paper in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, Dr. John M. McPartland and Saoirse E. O’Sullivan trace hemp’s prehistoric journey from Asia to Hibernia — now modern-day Ireland. Like much of Europe, cannabis arrived in Ireland when written records were scarce.

The authors rely on archeological, linguistic, and pollen analyses as they document the migration of cannabis across Europe. Ancient pollen, extracted from mud, contains signals from cannabis’s past. Seeds from crops and rare archeological artifacts provide additional clues attesting to hemp’s intimate relationship with humankind.

Thousands of years ago, the medicinal properties of cannabis were remarked in ancient texts. At this time, humans living closer to the plant’s area of origin on the Tibetan plateau relied on fibers from cannabis stalks for textiles. By 400 BCE, humans left evidence of cannabis where Celtic culture is thought to have originated.

The Birthplace of Celtic Culture

People of the Yamnaya culture, encompassing modern Ukraine, utilized cannabis crops earlier than the Celtic culture that emerged in Europe during the Iron Age (1200-550 BC). Cannabis fibers and water-logged seeds first appeared in Hallstatt, a region near modern Austria, which is considered the birthplace of the Celtic peoples.

But the words used for cannabis and hemp were all borrowed from another culture. The lack of an ancestorial word for hemp or cannabis in Proto-Celtic implies that the inhabitants of Halsttatt spoke a language unrelated to early precursors of the Celtic lexicon.

HerbalGram, the acclaimed quarterly journal of the American Botanical Council, recently published its 2021 “Herb Market Report,” which included data on sales of CBD as an herbal ingredient in mainstream and natural retail channels in the United States. The combined total from both channels — $58,293,034 — does not include CBD sales in licensed cannabis dispensaries or CBD products, such as vapes, tinctures, gummies, and other edibles sold online. (E-commerce sales of CBD in the U.S. in 2021 reached $2 billion, according to Statistica.)

The following excerpt analyzes CBD marketing trends reported by the American Botanical Council, a membership organization that educates consumers, health care professionals, journalists, and others about the safe and effective use of medicinal plants. Visit this link if you are interested in becoming an ABC member, which includes a subscription to HerbalGram.

A Top Selling Herbal Supplement

In 2021, for the fourth year in a row, CBD was the top-selling herbal supplement ingredient in natural retail stores. CBD first appeared on the natural channel’s top 40 list in 2017, ranking 12th, after sales growth of more than 300% from the previous year. Despite its top rank in 2021, sales of this ingredient have slowed in recent years.

In 2021, CBD sales in the natural channel totaled $38,931,696, a 24% decline. This was somewhat less than the nearly 37% decline seen in 2020. Sales appear to have peaked in 2019, when natural channel consumers spent more than $90.7 million on these products. Still, even after two years of declining sales, natural channel sales of CBD in 2021 were still significantly higher than when the ingredient first appeared on the top 40 list. Consumers spent roughly $31.3 million more on CBD products in 2021 compared to 2017 — a 413.4% increase in annual sales.

The marketing data firm SPINS tracks sales of two separate cannabis-derived ingredients: CBD and “hemp seeds and derivatives.” According to the FDA, “hemp” is defined as Cannabis sativa with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of 0.3% or less. (THC is the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis.) Cannabis sativa with more than 0.3% THC is considered “marijuana” or “cannabis.”1 SPINS’ CBD category typically includes sales of products that contain hemp-based CBD extracts, including CBD oils, gummies, and capsules.

For all modern medicine can do, many mysteries remain unsolved. What is long COVID? Is there really such thing as a “cure” for cancer? And how to explain the surprisingly high prevalence of fibromyalgia, a debilitating, lifelong disorder of the central nervous system without a known cause that affects between 2 and 4 percent of adults worldwide?

In the absence of an answer — or a cure — treatment is the name of the game for fibromyalgia. No single drug yet exists to address all of the disease’s effects on the body, which can include widespread aches and pains, sleeplessness, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Instead, patients turn to a mix of whatever individual medications, therapies, and lifestyle changes (especially exercise) help ease symptoms and improve quality of life.

On the drug front, anti-depressants, analgesics, and muscle relaxants might be prescribed. But there’s another option that can address mood, pain, and more at once, all with fewer side effects: cannabis.

It’s not a new idea. Researchers have been investigating the use of cannabis to treat fibromyalgia’s constellation of symptoms for decades, with early clinical trials in the 2000s1-4 suggesting a possible benefit of both pure THC and flower in managing the disease. Nor is it necessarily surprising, given the ability of cannabis to target the ubiquitous, homeostasis-seeking endocannabinoid system.

Recently published papers — a series of reviews, two human studies, and an animal study — only bolster the case that cannabis can help those suffering from this confounding condition. Still more may be forthcoming, including through a newly announced randomized controlled trial in the Netherlands that will compare cannabis, oxycodone, and a combination of the two for pain relief in 60 fibromyalgia patients.5