Users, retailers promote CBD hash oil as medical marijuana alternative

BOSTON — Medical marijuana remains under a cloud despite being legal in Massachusetts and a great relief to many, but an oil extract from a marijuana hemp plant called CBD may cure that concern.

According to users and retailers, CBD gives many of the same medical benefits of marijuana, without the high from THC contained in marijuana plants.

“I had broken my tail bone so I was using it for pain management and it was really helpful for that,” Jenna Bourgeois said.

Bourgeois started on CBD about a year ago, she now uses it for anxiety and likes it precisely because she doesn’t get high from it.

“It is a medically active cannabinoid but not a psychoactive cannabinoid,” Jonathan Napoli, owner and founder of the Hempest, said.

The list of ailments CBD claims to cure is huge. It includes reducing blood sugar, reducing vomiting and nausea, preventing sleeplessness and reducing seizures and convulsions.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved a trial for a pharmaceutical version of CBD for children with rare forms of epilepsy.

Meanwhile, CBD remains in a legal gray area, and can be purchased at stores like the Hempest in Boston. But on the federal level the DEA considers CBD to be a class 1 substance.

Cox Media Group