Support for Cannabis Legalization Ramps up With Increasing Prevalence of CBD Products
9:00 am ET March 11, 2019
Medical cannabis has been a controversial subject of matter among various national governments and healthcare facilities around the world. The big debate over the plant centers around its safety, its decriminalized status, its addictive properties and if it's even effective. While multiple studies have set out to learn more about cannabis and its components, some researchers have already validated it. Now, consumers are primarily using cannabis to treat medical conditions such as chronic pain, cancer, seizures, and even muscle spasms. Medical cannabis is also increasingly being adopted by medical facilities as an alternative to traditional drugs such as opioids, which often pose high side effect risks. As of now, studies have suggested that cannabis is not addictive when compared to opioids and requires a much smaller dosage while providing similarly effective results. Advancements in clinical trials will also further accelerate the growth of the medical cannabis sector, as more positive results flow in and countries begin to adopt medical cannabis as a registered treatment for certain maladies. According to data compiled by Global Market Insights, the U.S. medical marijuana market was valued at USD 7.0 Billion in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of more than 36% from 2018 to 2024. Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTC: PBIO), CannTrust Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CTST) (TSX: TRST), Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RKDA), Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (OTC: TGODF) (TSX: TGOD), Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (OTC: CURLF) (CSE: CURA)
While the U.S. cannabis marketplace accounts for the largest share in the world, other emerging countries are also doing their part in propelling the industry growth. Countries such as Germany, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have all legalized cannabis on a medical level in the past. According to ArcView Research, in partnership with BDS Analytics, regions like Australia are expected to account for USD 1.2 Billion worth of legal cannabis spending by 2027, while Germany is projected to drive in sales of USD 3.1 Billion. Even though cannabis is linked to having effective and efficient results in the medical aspect, the concern over its psychoactive effects still remains. Due to the various regulatory laws that pertain to cannabis, certain nations are implementing more lenient CBD, or cannabidiol, laws. CBD is much less controversial due to its non-psychoactive effects. And despite the major chemical difference between CBD and marijuana, CBD still offers consumers a beneficial therapeutic effect. "Least controversial is the extract from the hemp plant known as CBD (which stands for cannabidiol) because this component of marijuana has little, if any, intoxicating properties. CBD-dominant strains have little or no THC, so patients report very little if any alteration in consciousness," said Peter Grinspoon, M.D., a physician in Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital, "Many patients find themselves in the situation of wanting to learn more about medical marijuana, but feel embarrassed to bring this up with their doctor. My advice for doctors is that whether you are pro, neutral, or against medical marijuana, patients are embracing it, and although we don't have rigorous studies and "gold standard" proof of the benefits and risks of medical marijuana, we need to learn about it, be open-minded, and above all, be non-judgmental."
Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) announced earlier last month that, "analytical testing on hemp-derived CBD oil processed via PBI's Ultra Shear Technology(TM) (UST(TM)) platform has confirmed that UST processing uniquely achieves the challenging criteria for creating highly-effective "nanoemulsions" of CBD oil in water, without loss or modification of CBD throughout the entire UST process (> 99% recovery).
The ultimate goal in mixing oil-based nutritional and therapeutic products like CBD oil into water, for effective oral or topical delivery and absorption, is to reduce the size of the oil drops to such a level that they seemingly 'vanish' into the water (become "water soluble"). These exceedingly small, nanometer-scale droplets are so tiny that it becomes very easy for the human (or other animal) body to absorb the oil-based nutrients or drugs (like CBD) directly from the inner surface of the oil droplet. Traditional processing methods struggle mightily with this challenge, but PBI's proprietary UST platform uses ultra-high pressure to create extreme shearing forces to make nanometer-scale droplets of fluids that become highly-stable, homogenized "nanoemulsions" of materials that normally do not mix (e.g., CBD oil and water).
Dr. Vera Gross, Director of Applications Development at PBI, explained: 'We asked an independent, university-affiliated laboratory to determine the size of oil droplets achieved in UST-processed CBD oil, using a universally-accepted sizing method called DLS. Their analytical results revealed that the UST- processed oil drops were reduced to approximately 65 nm in size, well into the 20-200 nm range targeted for truly effective nanoemulsion delivery and absorption of nutrients and therapeutics, such as CBD (Nano- and Microscale Drug Delivery Systems, 2017).'
Dr. Gross continued: 'It was critically important to also demonstrate that CBD from hemp-derived CBD oil was not lost or modified during UST processing. For this we enlisted the help of scientists at NutraFuels, Inc. (OTCQB: NTFU), which has an FDA-inspected, highly-qualified analytical testing laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment and well-trained chemists with years of experience in laboratory testing.'
Mr. Cooper Dodd, R&D Scientist at NTFU, said: 'Using a powerful laboratory method called HPLC to measure the concentrations of CBD and potential impurities, we determined that no appreciable amount of CBD was lost during the UST process. These results compare well to our standard processing method of ultrasonication, which can carry a risk of measurable loss of CBD, and sometimes creates the appearance of impurities if not performed properly. While there is more work to be done, as a nutraceutical manufacturer with products already on the market, we see these results as a robust leap towards better optimization of our CBD-enhanced products.'
Dr. Keith Warriner, Professor of Food Science at the University of Guelph (Toronto), and a recognized expert in the cannabis industry, commented: 'The data released today on UST-generated nanoemulsions of CBD oil are very impressive. Creating nanoemulsions of CBD oil with full preservation of CBD throughout the process, while not generating impurities, remains a significant challenge in the industry. These data indicate that UST can achieve that goal, thereby offering great promise to the future.'
Professor Warriner continued: 'Not only does the UST process appear capable of achieving stability of emulsions, but the controlled heating that also occurs may offer a valid alternative to thermal and non-thermal pasteurization methods to reduce the risk of harmful microbes in products such as edibles and topicals. I believe that CBD-infused topicals and similar products will prove more popular with users than edibles. However, to be successful, it is imperative that topicals be highly stable, safe, bioavailable, and readily absorbent nanoemulsions. After consideration of the data released today, the UST process appears to be a leading candidate to fill that important need.'
Dr. Bradford A. Young, Chief Commercial Officer of PBI, summarized: 'We were delighted to release a short video last week showing the ability of our new UST platform to make visually clear and stable mixtures of CBD oil and water. The scientific data released today have further validated the achievement of creating high quality, nanoemulsion mixtures of oil and water using our UST platform. In particular, these data specifically show that CBD levels are preserved all the way through UST processing to the finished product. We are very excited by these results and believe our proprietary Ultra Shear Technology can help a diverse variety of customers to develop a vast array of new and beneficial products spanning multiple large markets, including CBD and nutraceuticals, cosmetics and topicals, food and beverages, drug delivery and more.'"
