Because it's reasonably safe, it shows promise in many different therapeutic areas, according to James MacKillop, co-director of the Michael G. DeGroote Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
After three randomised, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical trials with 516 patients, the F.D.A. approved Epidiolex, a purified CBD extract, to treat rare seizure disorders in patients two years or older. The studies showed that the drug, when combined with other medications, helped to reduce seizures. These trials, which randomly divide individuals into groups without the subject or the researcher knowing which group is receiving the treatment or a placebo, are considered the gold standard in medicine.
Epidiolex is still the only CBD-derived medication the F.D.A. has approved with the correct dosage of CBD, despite optimism for using the plant extract to treat other illnesses. Cannabidiol has primarily been studied in animals, and science has lagged behind its popularity. Ryan Vandrey, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said, "We don't quite have the 101 courses on CBD figured out yet."
