CBD Products

This blog is named THC Shopping, but, as I have said before, THC is just one of the many cannabinoids in cannabis. CBD, a major cannabinoid is cannabidiol. It was discovered by an American chemist, Roger Adams, in 1940. Israeli researcher, the deceased Raphael Mechoulam, and his team synthesized it in 1963. CBD alone is not psychoactive.

The FDA actually approved a CBD-based product for GW Pharma in 2018: Epidiolex. GW Pharma was acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) in 2021.

FDA- approved CBD

The Epidiolex website says this about why FDA approval for CBD matters:

EPIDIOLEX is the only FDA-approved prescription CBD medicine, which among many things, means that it has a safety and efficacy profile that has been thoroughly evaluated in clinical trials. It also means that this plant-based, never synthetic, highly purified form of CBD is manufactured to meet the high standards of the FDA's current Good Manufacturing Practices and the World Health Organization's Good Agricultural Practices.

The approval of Epidiolex in June of 2018 was followed by Farm Act of 2018 becoming a law in late 2018. The word "hemp" appears 74 times, and "cannabidiol" and "CBD" are not mentioned at all. "Tetrahydrocannabinol", which is THC, is mentioned 7 times. Kind of odd!

The reason THC was mentioned in its full name several times is that the legislation was careful to define which hemp was legal and why:

There was no science apparently that went into the 0.3% weight. It was arbitrary.

A new legal industry was created. Cannabis stock investors were plenty excited. Many of these companies were popular but are now diminished or gone. I no longer cover any of them, though I do share each Friday with my subscribers at 420 Investor a chart that includes currently 5 CBD companies: cbdMD (YCBD), Charlotte's Web (CWBHF), Hempacco (HPCO), LFTD Partners (LIFD) and TAAT Global Alternatives (TOBAF).

I used to follow Charlotte's Web closely. It currently trades in the U.S. at less than a dime. In 2019, it peaked above $25! It went public in Canada at C$7.00, which was about US$5.40 at the time in the summer of 2018, just before the Farm Act of 2018 was approved. Not pretty!

I do not think this is a good company, but it has done some great things. I like that it is a Certified B Corp, and it was founded by the Stanley Brothers in Colorado in honor of Charlotte Figi, a young girl that used CBD to manage seizures from epilepsy. The Stanley Brothers developed proprietary hemp genetics in 2011 that would later become the basis for Charlotte's Web products. In 2013, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the Chief Medical Correspondent at CNN, met with Charlotte and other people and helped really launch the Charlotte's Web brand. He went into the interview sceptical, but he changed his mind.

CBD is a wonderful medicine, but it is very poorly regulated. The FDA won't touch it. I have long been surprised by the many greedy people out there that just try to take advantage of potential buyers. FDA-approved Epidiolex generated revenue in 2024 of almost $1 billion as sales rose 15% during the year. Many people get it covered by their insurance.

So, CBD can be very good for many things, but it is not well-regulated at this time. Hopefully, the federal government, which passed the law that enabled big growth in CBD products, will address this lack of regulation.