CBD oil

ONDAY, May 7, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Cannabidiol (CBD) oil is among the most hot new service in states which have legalized medical marijuana.

The non-intoxicating marijuana extract will be credited with helping treat a number of medical problems -- everything from epileptic seizures to anxiety to inflammation to sleeplessness.

But experts say the evidence is scant for most of these touted benefits.

Worse, CBD will be produced without any regulation, causing products that vary widely in quality, said Marcel Bonn-Miller, an adjunct assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

"It is actually the Wild West," Bonn-Miller said. "Joe Bob who starts up a CBD company could say regardless of the hell he wants on a brand and sell it to people."

Cannabidiol is extracted from the flowers and buds of marijuana or hemp plants. It generally does not produce intoxication; marijuana's "high" is brought on by the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

CBD oil is legal in 30 states where medicinal and/or recreational marijuana is legal, according to Governing magazine.

Seventeen additional states have CBD-specific laws on the books, according to Prevention magazine. Those are Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Strong Evidence for Treating Epilepsy

Only 1 purported use for cannabidiol, to take care of epilepsy, has significant scientific evidence supporting it.

Last month, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel unanimously recommended approval of the CBD medication Epidiolex to take care of two rare forms of childhood epilepsy.

"That's the only real area where the evidence has risen to the point where the FDA has said this really is acceptable to approve a fresh drug," said Timothy Welty, chair of the department of clinical sciences at Drake University's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, in Des Moines, Iowa.

For the rest of CBD's potential uses, there is simply not enough evidence to make a firm conclusion.

Like, some human clinical trials claim that CBD could succeed in treating outward indications of anxiety, particularly social anxiety, Bonn-Miller said.