How Does CBD Work?

Science is certain that CBD positively effects the body but exactly how CBD exerts its therapeutic properties mechanistically is still being sorted out by scientists. Even more, we are unsure exactly how many conditions can be treated by this powerful oil! The list seems to grow daily as more and more are willing to try the products and more lives are being touched. 

Although there are many unknowns, CBD's powerful effects on the body can no longer be ignored. Scientists globally are starting to turn their attention towards the cannabis plant, uncovering critical information.

Fascinatingly, research on the cannabis plant and how it affects the brain led to one of the most exciting discoveries in modern science - the endocannabinoid System -  a previously unknown biochemical communication system in the human body that plays a crucial role in regulating our physiology, mood, fertility, appetite, pain sensation, and other important everyday functions.

Although there are still many unknowns around the mechanisms by which CBD elicits its powerful therapeutic effects, here's what we know:

• All cannabinoids, including CBD, attach to the endocannabinoid system in the brain.
• THC, for example, binds to both the CB1 and CB2 receptors. The binding receptors cause the endocannabinoid System to release neurotransmitters that cause the "high" experience.
• CBD also affects the CB1 and CB2 receptors, but not directly.
• CBD is a pleiotropic drug in that it produces many effects through multiple molecular pathways by:
• activating several non-cannabinoid receptors and ion channels 
• CBD also acts through various receptor-independent channels—for example, by delaying the “reuptake” of endogenous neurotransmitters (such as anandamide and adenosine) and by enhancing or inhibiting the binding action of certain G-coupled protein receptors