By Nadeem Badshah
TOP pharmacists are divided on the benefits of cannabis oil products being sold to treat pain.
Around 1.3 million UK consumers spend £300 million a year on CBD goods, research has shown, with a number of specialist stores opening in high streets across the country.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is a chemical found in the cannabis plant. The products are legal if sold as a food supplement but require medical permission if offered as a medicine.
It has led to a string of CBD medical marijuana card online doctor infused products including oils, muscle balms, anti-ageing creams and sex lubricants. A Hemp and CBD Expo is taking place at the NEC in Birmingham on February 29-March 1.
Pharmacist Nader Siabi has urged people to buy them from chemists to get advice on whether it is dangerous to take with other medicine and to do research on the CBD content of products.
Siabi, from the North East London Pharmaceutical Committee, told Eastern Eye: "Some companies made claims they were not able to substantiate but one produced the lab data and batch numbers.
"There is no scientific claims for the benefits but people who use them say it is working. We put CBD in the pharmacy and from the first week people are buying them.
"We are selling drugs, sprays and balm for joint pains for example. We see people coming for repeat purchases, they have found some benefit.
"Whether it is a placebo effect or it is helping them, I believe in it 100 per cent now due to patient feedback.
"You have to do your due diligence and ensure patients have the necessary information about drug interactions [mixing with other medicine]."
CBD products contain a non-psychoactive chemical found in the hemp plant. It has become trendy among people in the past year over claims it helps with pain and insomnia.
Between 2002 and 2012 there were nine published studies on the use of CBD for the treatment of pain.
By 2017, there had been 30 with most showing potential benefits for pain relief but the studies involved small participant numbers and mostly rats.
Vikesh Patel, who owns four pharmacists in south east England, said he is sceptical about CBD.
He told Eastern Eye: "There is no evidence of the product claims on anxiety, constipation.
"If it's that great why haven't they done a clinical trial?
"If the user is not intellectual and learned enough, they can be fobbed off.
"We are selling CBD oral drops, skin creams and sprays out of business need and we go with companies that have some data and do not sell to under 18s.
"Before it was homeopathic medicines, there was no evidence for it, and they clamped down on it being sold in pharmacies."
Since last October, cannabis-based products can be prescribed by specialist hospital doctors in cases of children with rare, severe forms of epilepsy and adults with vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy or muscle stiffness from multiple sclerosis.
A spokesman for the National Pharmacy Association said it would welcome more research and guidance that makes it easier for manufacturers, health care professionals, retailers and consumers to make informed choices.
“Our advice to pharmacists considering whether to stock non-medicinal CBD products is to ensure they are acting legally and putting the needs of patients first – which is the same advice we’d give about all other products sold or supplied in pharmacies.
"In the case of non-medicinal CBD products, pharmacists should take account of current Home Office guidance.
“Currently the evidence about the long term effects of these products is limited and the regulations are complex."
Kings College London (KCL) secured funding to carry out a large-scale trial to test whether CBD could be useful in treating young people at high risk of developing psychosis.
Dr Sagnik Bhattacharyya, from KCL's psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience unit said few of the claims for CBD's effects have been tested but scientists are looking whether large doses could help treat severe mental health problems.
He added: "We have carried out a couple of studies where we show that a single 600mg dose of cannabidiol can normalise brain function in key regions we know are abnormal in people with psychosis."
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