CBD Up Close

Cutting through the CBD hype

CBD Basics

Ring in the New Year with CBD Champagne Cocktails!

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The countdown is nearing zero and 2020 is mere seconds away. You lift your glass as you repeat the numbers along with everyone else at the party but this year is different. This year you are holding up a glass of champagne mixed with pineapple juice, blue curacao, and your desired level of Hemp Bombs Acai CBD oil.

CBD oil is the perfect addition to your New Year’s countdown tradition. It can help reduce inflammation, helping lessen the inevitable New Year’s Day hangover, and has many other potential health benefits. And this is a much healthier tradition than simply drinking alcohol with a group of friends.

In fact, CBD oil would make for a great resolution for 2020. Consider living a year where you didn’t have to take multiple pain relievers every day to help with your normal aches and pains. And CBD oil can be a great way to help you unwind after a long day at work.  

Joe Rogan “CBD is One of the Best Things I’ve Ever Tried for Anxiety” – CBD Trust Marketing

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It’s videos like this that make it clear CBD companies should work to engender trust marketing all day long, every day of the year. It’s anecdotal evidence, which isn’t as good as statistical evidence, most of the time anyways, but it’s testimonials like this that will help get more people into CBD.

To the video. Joe Rogan is telling his guest, Maynard James Keenan, about how he has benefited from using CBD to help with his anxiety. In the video, he holds up a bottle of pills, shakes it, and first says that those pills can fuck you up because, if you take too much, it can make you paranoid. Not off to a good start, right? Wrong. Leading with the negatives is a great way to engender trust because if you’re willing to lead with what’s wrong with a product that signals to people that you are honest.

Then Joe goes into how CBD, and not just the pills in the bottle that he shook on camera, but also CBD oil, has helped him immensely with his anxiety. CBD is a “vacation saver” for Joe.

After rewatching the video perhaps the most powerful part of the discussion was when they talked about the negative effects ibuprofen can have on a body. Joe relates the story of a person he knows who is a runner who took ibuprofen to help with inflammation only to have his problems with inflammation increase. Turns out that it was the ibuprofen that was destroying his gut biome and causing his problems to worsen.

Joe also went on to talk about how CBD creams are a great way to help with aches and pains.

The key takeaway from this is that in a world where trust is provisional and the CBD industry is akin to a mellow Wild West with a short history of clinical research and a proliferation of fantastic claims abounding, it’s the companies that opt for a more genuine dialogue with their customers by acknowledging the truth, warts and all, upfront that will win the day. This isn’t to say be a dope about it, or do it in a weak way, that’s not Joe’s public persona at all, but be forthright with how you talk with customers. Customers who trust you are more likely to stay customers.

What CBD Skin Care Products Can Do For You

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Just about everyone can have healthier, better looking skin and CBD skin care products may help. CBD has been found to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can heal your skin and make it look more beautiful.

From today.com:

“‘We know [CBD is] a strong antioxidant…. [It] protects collagen and stops DNA damage and protects from sun damage,’ said Dr. Farris, who recently spoke about CBD at the American Academy of Dermatology’s annual meeting. ‘It also can act as an anti-inflammatory for people with rosacea, eczema or acne.'” Check out this list of the best cbd gummies for anxiety and sleep.

And Rachel Nazarian, a board-certified dermatologist, had this to say from an article in Yahoo! Lifestyle:

“‘I’ve actually used CBD oil for things like wound healing, burns, and itching — and that’s where the science does back it.’

“Nazarian says there is evidence that suggests CBD oil can be beneficial for those with acne or hyperpigmentation and scarring attributed to breakouts. ‘Given the fact that CBD is anti-inflammatory and acne is an inflammatory condition for many people, along with the fact that it down regulates the production of oil, I actually think somebody that suffers from acne would benefit from CBD oil,’ she says, adding that it can help heal up those post-breakout dark spots, too.”

The advice that CBD Up Close gives to people considering using CBD products, whether for skin care or something else, is that they are definitely worth a try. There are a growing number of people who are finding results from using CBD products and there are no none serious side affects from using CBD. And, like with any beauty regimen, you will need to experiment to see what works. It may cost a little bit of money but your skin is worth it. Check out these hemp gummies for mood and health support, as well as other positive attributes.

Here are a couple of the top rated CBD skin care products for you to try!

Manuka Honey Cream - CBD skin care products

Manuka Honey Cream contains hemp oil and can help with healing breakouts on your skin and as a moisturizer as well. 395 people have rated this product with the average rating being 4.4 stars out of five. This Manuka honey cream, which also contains soothing shea butter, coconut oil, and hemp seed oil, also comes with a money-back guarantee, which is always a nice safety when you’re buying a new product. Check out this product and read some reviews on Amazon.com.

Natural Cannabis Hemp Hot Cream - CBD skin care products

Natural Cannabis Hemp Hot Cream is made to help combat cellulite and reduce inflammation. After 158 customer reviews, this product has an average rating of 4.3 stars out of five. It has safe, natural ingredients, and is infused with pure hemp oil to help relax sore muscles and inflammation. Read more about this product and some reviews on Amazon.com. It may be just the product you are looking for and at $17, this hemp hot cream is not going to break the bank!

Should I Take CBD?

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If you are asking yourself “Should I take CBD?” then you have come to the right place!

If you’re looking for evidence about CBD from an academic paper then you will disappointed since there isn’t much out there on this subject. If you have seizures there is some evidence that CBD helps but that’s all CBD Up Close has been able to find from the academic literature.

Unfortunately, for the time being, this is more or less the state of unknowing that we will be in on this question for years to come. Academic research takes time and there’s always the chance that harmful side affects won’t be found out until years, if not decades, after people started using CBD. Personally, CBD Up Close does not think that CBD, or marijuana for that matter, will have the same level of deleterious affects as smoking nicotine or drinking alcohol in excess have.

But, the truth of the matter is that we do not know. We are not doctors and, even if we were, we still wouldn’t know.

Should I take CBD?

All good answers to even somewhat complicated questions should start with: “It depends.” And that is the case with “Should I take CBD?”, it does depend.

It depends on how much risk you are willing to take. CBD may end up having no side affects or there may be some problems that arise years later. Ditto for any cannabis product. But, if you are the type of person who is willing to take on the seemingly small risk that at some point in the future you may have problems due to your usage of CBD or cannabis then go ahead.

Does CBD Work?

Again, it depends on who and what you believe. Right now, unfortunately, the best evidence that anyone has about the efficacy of CBD as an anxiety reliever, sleep aid, or any of the other number of maladies it cures or alleviates is based on their personal experiences using CBD or from the anecdotal evidence provided by others. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t.

Our take on this is that if you have exhausted all or most other avenues of care, or the traditional remedies are getting too expensive, then CBD is definitely worth a try. Going on Amazon or any number of locations that sells CBD products online or in real life and picking out a couple of products based off of recommendations and reviews is worth a try if it could potentially cure what ails you.

Once you have made your purchases then you should monitor what kind of response your body is having to the CBD. Is it helping with what you hoped it would help with? What kind of dosage do I need to have in order to get results? Does this product work better than this one? Are there any side affects?

And as CBD Up Close does know from personal experience, this is the same process you would have to follow with FDA approved medications as well. No medication by virtue of its FDA approval will always work. Everyone is different and the type of medication and dosage will have to be adjusted until you find something that works. CBD products are no different.

CBD = Placebo?

There’s always the chance that you will experience the placebo affect when taking CBD products. A person’s mind has the power in certain situations to basically fix the body. Some people take a sugar pill and the next day their insomnia is cured! This could happen to you if you take CBD as well. And would that be a bad thing?

This is also the case with FDA approved medications as well. That is why drug companies have to run double blind trials. In these trials, patients are either given the drug or a placebo (a sugar pill) and there is almost always a percentage of people who have been given the placebo and report that the pills they were taking helped them.

Did you know that the US Government Holds the Patent to Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants?

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It’s true! The US Department of Health and Human Services owns the patent to Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants.

Not sure what that means? Here’s the abstract:

Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosed class of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants is formula (I) wherein the R group is independently selected from the group consisting of H, CH3, and COCH3.

And here’s a study to go along with that along with the abstract reproduced below:

The neuroprotective actions of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids were examined in rat cortical neuron cultures exposed to toxic levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate toxicity was reduced by both cannabidiol, a nonpsychoactive constituent of marijuana, and the psychotropic cannabinoid (−)Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabinoids protected equally well against neurotoxicity mediated by N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors, 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid receptors, or kainate receptors. N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-induced toxicity has been shown to be calcium dependent; this study demonstrates that 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid/kainate receptor-type neurotoxicity is also calcium-dependent, partly mediated by voltage sensitive calcium channels. The neuroprotection observed with cannabidiol and THC was unaffected by cannabinoid receptor antagonist, indicating it to be cannabinoid receptor independent. Previous studies have shown that glutamate toxicity may be prevented by antioxidants. Cannabidiol, THC and several synthetic cannabinoids all were demonstrated to be antioxidants by cyclic voltametry. Cannabidiol and THC also were shown to prevent hydroperoxide-induced oxidative damage as well as or better than other antioxidants in a chemical (Fenton reaction) system and neuronal cultures. Cannabidiol was more protective against glutamate neurotoxicity than either ascorbate or α-tocopherol, indicating it to be a potent antioxidant. These data also suggest that the naturally occurring, nonpsychotropic cannabinoid, cannabidiol, may be a potentially useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of oxidative neurological disorders such as cerebral ischemia.

A Brief CBD Beginner’s Guide

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In a recent video, Vox Media tries to explain what they call the “booming CBD craze.” The video provides an overview of what CBD is, where it stands in the marketplace and in the mind of the consumer, as well as where it stands in legal and regulatory terms.

The narrator brings up the point that CBD stands right at the intersection of three consumer trends: the $49 billion herbal supplement industry, the growing anxiety economy, and the almost overnight rise of a legal cannabis marketplace.

Exponential CBD Industry Growth

CBD sales have increased by pretty wild percentages year over year since 2014, when there was an estimated $90 million worth of sales. Compare that to the $535 million worth of CBD good sold in 2018. And by the year 2020, there are estimates that CBD products will rake in just under $2 billion for the industry.

This is what they call a growth industry. But for a product this popular, CBD is barely regulated and people don’t even really know much about what it is or what it is supposed to do.

What we Know about CBD

Cannabidiol (the scientific term for CBD oil) is one of the 110 chemicals in cannabis called cannabinoids. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is a different chemical altogether, and it’s the one that causes the high associated with marijuana. CBD won’t get you high.

You can imbibe CBD in a few ways. You can inhale it as a vapor, apply it to your skin, but ingesting it as edible oil is one of the more popular ways people are getting their CBD fix, since CBD is naturally soluble in fat, which means it’s easy to add to edible products. This may help explain the apparent ubiquity of CBD products.

There is, however, no proof that CBD cures the ailments that people think it does. CBD does have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that have been shown to treat psychosis, anxiety, movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy and seizures. The FDA recently approved Epidiolex, a CBD based epilepsy drug, but there is not enough research for CBD to be prescribed for joint pain, arthritis, anxiety, depression, lack of appetite, cancer, or any of the other myriad problems for which it is said to provide relief. We do not know a lot about how CBD affects the brain or what doses or delivery methods are most effective.

CBD as a Cure: Things to Look Out For

Forgoing traditional medicine for CBD could pose problems for people with serious illness. And CBD interactions with other drugs you are taking could be problematic as well.

Since they are almost completely unregulated, CBD products often don’t contain what they say they do. The product may not have the cannabinidol claimed on the label (either they have extremely small doses or sometimes none at all) and some of the products may actually also contain THC.

IS CBD Legal?

Depending on which state you live in, CBD may or may not be legal. However, on a federal level it is still technically illegal.

The Drug Enforcement Agency takes the position that CBD is federally illegal, but it will not go after anyone possessing it or using it. Still I wouldn’t go through an airport with CBD.

The World Health Organization, in December 2017, concluded that CBD poses “no public health problems.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency removed cannabidiol from its prohibited substances list.

The 2018 Farm Bill as it stands would legalize CBD and industrial hemp nationwide.

Where We Stand with CBD

The CBD industry is growing. Legality is all but assured. There are powerful entities backing the CBD and industrial hemp industries, we’ve seen signs that financial services companies are changing their tune when it comes to processing payments for cannabis-related products, and there is apparent political will to move the country toward an environment where CBD is completely legal. When this happens, businesses that are prepared will be in a great position to take advantage of this burgeoning market.