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Exploring the Safety of CBD
As CBD's presence continues to expand across various industries and sectors, it's evident that its popularity is on the rise. CBD shops are cropping up on high streets and online stores are multiplying steadily. At Reakiro, we hold consumer health as our foremost priority. If there's any potential danger or health concern associated with CBD consumption, it becomes our responsibility to keep our customers informed. Our commitment extends to staying current with the latest scientific reports and studies related to the safety of CBD. Should any risks emerge from CBD usage, we are dedicated to transparent communication.
While an increasing number of users and scientific studies emphasize the beneficial effects of CBD on health and well-being, a pertinent question remains: Does CBD come with any associated risks? Specifically, concerns revolve around potential addiction and side effects. In this article, we embark on a comprehensive exploration of this question to provide insight into the potential dangers of CBD.
The Legal Landscape of CBD
Navigating the world of CBD involves considering various factors, and one crucial aspect is its legal status. For those wary of the potential risks of CBD, understanding its legality becomes a key determinant. Legal frameworks are designed to safeguard consumers, with product prohibition signifying perceived risks. Notably, recent changes in attitude and legislation, particularly in European countries, have ushered in more favorable CBD regulations.
Historically, CBD faced restrictions due to its origin from the Cannabis Sativa L plant, which is often associated with strains high in THC, a psychoactive compound classified as a drug in numerous jurisdictions. However, this perception is evolving, leading to more permissive CBD regulations in many places.
In this landscape, Reakiro stands firmly aligned with the legal standards governing CBD products. These regulations often revolve around the permissible THC content in CBD items.
Reakiro's product range, including CBD oils, capsules, and athletic products like balms, and creams, consistently meets these legal criteria. Emphasizing transparency, the Reakiro brand conducts rigorous third-party testing on all products, with the results openly published on our website. This commitment reflects our dedication to providing consumers with safe and compliant CBD options.
The danger of CBD and the danger of THC
When talking about this we must be very clear and not confuse the two molecules or attribute certain dangers to CBD because of the potential dangers of THC. The THC molecule is present in the cannabis plant in a proportion of approximately 4 to 9%, and up to 30% in cannabis resin. THC is a psychoactive substance that affects the brain by activating cannabinoid receptors, which causes the well-known euphoric effect - the ‘high’ sought out by cannabis smokers.
This is absolutely not the case when it comes to CBD, cannabidiol, which does not act on the same receptors in the body as the THC molecule.
Is addiction a potential danger of CBD?
Again, when we talk about addiction, we must emphasize the difference between the THC molecule and the CBD molecule. THC causes certain habituation, or tolerance, this is to say that over time you need to take a higher and higher dose in order to feel the same effects. This state of addiction is much lower than other psychotropics, such as synthetic drugs or certain medications, but it is no less a reality. Additionally, the consumption of THC is addictive, which gives it its drug status and why the term ‘soft drug’ is sometimes used to describe it.
This is not the case for CBD. No serious study to date has reported any kind of addiction or dependence from taking CBD.
What is addiction?
Addictogenic products - products which cause addiction or dependence - such as nicotine, alcohol, cocaine and many other drugs, are substances which flood the brain with neurotransmitters causing a significant surge of pleasant sensations. One of these neurotransmitters is dopamine, sometimes called the ‘pleasure hormone’, which accumulates in the hypothalamus. Dopamine and this region of the brain play an essential role in the phenomenon of addiction. While the production of dopamine does not imply addiction, everything depends on the way in which the substance is applied, which influences the speed and intensity with which dopamine is accumulated.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines addiction as a set of behavioural phenomena in which the use of a category of psychoactive substance or of a specific psychoactive substance causes a progressive withdrawal from other activities. It also distinguishes between the cognitive aspects and the physiological aspects of addiction.
CBD is non-addictive
As CBD is not a psychotropic (unlike THC), it has no effect on one’s dopamine concentration. When it comes to addiction, there is no danger in becoming addicted to CBD - but it can in fact help fight against addiction to other psychoactive substances.
A study published in 2019 by the National Library of Medicine focussed specifically on the use of CBD to facilitate people who were suffering from opioid withdrawal.[1] The study found that if CBD is administered from the onset of withdrawal, withdrawal symptoms are significantly reduced, particularly with regard to cravings and withdrawal anxiety. This study also included a placebo aspect, but participants who received the placebo did not experience a comparable response. Researchers also found real physiological changes in states induced by opioids, including a reduction in heart rate and a decrease in salivary cortisol levels. The study did not find any serious adverse effects during the treatment.
While it’s too early to make broad generalisations, it looks quite possible that CBD could be instrumental in helping people recovering from an addiction, such as those who want to quit smoking, alcohol addiction, or cannabis use - this could also include reducing the risk of relapse.
CBD and the danger of side effects
For those concerned about the possible dangers of CBD, there very well may also be concern over the side effects of CBD. Generally, the term ‘side effect’ is only associated with substances taken for medical reasons, so why is the term used when it comes to CBD?
This is because the therapeutic use of CBD is being more and more frequently considered in modern medicine as a treatment for various ailments, and in this case, it is not only necessary to measure the positive effects of CBD, but also to assess possible negative side effects.
Reakiro’s stance
Before discussing the dangers of CBD in terms of side effects, it is very important to understand Reakiro’s clear position on the use of Reakiro CBD products. We do not wish to dismiss the possibilities of Reakiro CBD products being used therapeutically for certain conditions, and if our customers wish to utilise our products in this way they are free to do so. We also maintain a constant and regular information watch so that we can inform our customers as much as possible about the latest scientific developments on this subject. But we would also like to emphasize the comprehensive, holistic approach to health that has guided Reakiro since the beginning.
Above all, Reakiro CBD products should be considered as products that are part of a healthy, harmonious and balanced lifestyle, as a part of the search for overall well-being. We passionately advocate a healthy lifestyle, stress reduction, a well-balanced diet, and a sufficient quantity of nutrients necessary for metabolism. It is all this that contributes to the general state of health and well-being that makes it possible for CBD Reakiro products to help strengthen the natural immune defences.
If you plan to use CBD Reakiro products to meet more specific personal needs, such as CBD Reakiro oils or CBD Reakiro capsules for better quality sleep, creams and Reakiro CBD balms for better muscle and joint relaxation after exercising, or even to relieve joint pain related to osteoarthritis, nothing is preventing you from adopting this approach. But in this case, we must insist on the fact that this approach should be accompanied by the authorised opinions of health professionals.
What is CBD used for?
When it comes to the therapeutic use of CBD, we remind you that this is an area where there is ongoing research but currently there is no definitive answer in terms of effectiveness. Nevertheless, the conditions for which the use of CBD is currently considered are quite numerous: chronic pain, arthritis, osteoarthritis or joint pain, anxiety and depression, lung conditions, sleep disorders, headaches and migraines, post-traumatic stress syndrome, nausea, allergies or asthma, epilepsy and other seizure related conditions, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease. The data is still quite sparse when it comes to research on these conditions, but it seems at this point it seems that the use of CBD is most promising in disorders which affect the nervous system.
Potential side effects
The potential side effects cited in the event of intensive use of CBD include the risk of sedation, drowsiness, gastrointestinal disorders (diarrhoea), loss of appetite, or even changes of mood such as irritability and restlessness. We must remember that if you consume CBD products while you are undergoing medical treatment or taking any kind of medication, interference is a possibility, and you should always check with your doctor before doing so.
Studies that look at the potential dangers of CBD focus solely on the effects of cannabidiol. However, there are many low-quality CBD products on the market that contain other much more dangerous molecules, including pesticides and other chemicals. Scientific studies on the use of CBD and the potential danger of CBD assume that the product is of the highest, purest quality - a factor which is essential when a study is administering it to subjects participating in the therapeutic evaluation. But when it comes to the danger of CBD, the central point is the quality of the product.
Avoiding the dangers and finding high-quality CBD
The more time we devote to examining and understanding the scientific studies and literature concerning the possible dangers of CBD, the more we see a clear and logical conclusion emerging: everything is a matter of product quality. The potential danger of CBD is in fact not related to the cannabidiol molecule, but to other molecules which can be present in CBD products that are either average or low quality. At Reakiro, we are aware that the production chain of CBD products involves a number of processes, from sowing the hemp seeds to the final packaging, and each of these processes requires extremely strict quality control.
Chemical fertilisers, pesticides, GMO plants
For the best CBD products please ensure that your supplier applies transparency when it comes to the origin and the method of production of the final products. This is of course the case for Reakiro’s CBD products, which only use facilities that are equipped and maintained to the highest industry standards. You can verify that Reakiro CBD products are 100% natural and are not derived from plants grown using chemical fertilisers or pesticides, nor are they derived from genetically modified plants. All analysis of our products is carried out by independent third party laboratories and published on our website.
Quality control
Reakiro CBD products are made from the highest quality industrial hemp, grown in the European Union and tested by independent laboratories. We guarantee the highest level of quality thanks to our extremely strict internal quality control procedure; each product must undergo a series of laboratory tests to obtain our highly-regarded Certificate of Analysis (COA). It is only on this condition that a Reakiro product can be put up for sale.