As more and more states legalize marijuana, there is growing interest in a cannabis extract – cannabidiol, also known as CBD.

It is marketed as a compound that can help relieve anxiety and also decrease cramps and pain, while also improving mental health.

Part of its appeal, at least for people who don’t want to get “high,” is that CBD doesn’t have the same intoxicating effects as marijuana, since it doesn’t contain THC, the plant’s psychoactive component.

“My customers buy CBD to combat stress,” says Richard Ferry, manager of Home Grown Apothecary in Portland, Oregon, where recreational marijuana use is legal under state law, with some restrictions .

Another reason Ferry has heard from his clients for using CBD is, “The mother-in-law is in town, and they just want to relax!”

“CBD has gotten a lot of attention,” says Ferry, as he shows off a range of products, including capsules and bottles of CBD oil that are placed under the tongue with a dropper.

By one estimate , the CBD industry has doubled in size in the past two years, and is now worth $200 million. But with its popularity, the hype may have outpaced the science.

“There’s a lot of confusion about how [CBD] works and what exactly it does,” says Ferry.

Researchers are now trying to pin down the effects of CBD.

CBD and Anxiety: Can CBD Help With Anxiety?

“I think there’s good evidence that CBD may be an effective treatment for anxiety and addiction” and other disorders, says Dr. Esther Blessing , a psychiatrist and researcher at New York University. “But we need clinical trials to find out.”

So far, evidence of anti-anxiety effects comes from animal research and still very small and limited human studies, which suggest that CBD displays anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety properties .

These early findings about cannabinoids piqued Blessing’s interest. For example, she points to a 2011 study of a dozen people, some with social anxiety and panic attacks, who were asked to speak in front of a large audience. Researchers compared the people’s anxiety levels after taking CBD to those who were given a placebo or nothing. (The participants didn’t know whether they were given the drug or the placebo, but CBD may have been a factor.)

And what did scientists find about CBD for anxiety? “People who took CBD reported significantly less anxiety” than those who took a placebo, Blessing says. “That’s really interesting.”

Benefits of CBD Against Anxiety

Now, with the National Institutes of Health findings, Blessing and a team of collaborators are about to begin a clinical trial to test whether CBD might help people with PTSD who also have moderate to severe alcohol use disorder.

During the study, 50 participants with PTSD and alcohol use disorder will be given either 400 milligrams of CBD daily or a placebo. The goal is to see if participants who take CBD end up drinking less and whether it can lead to an improvement in PTSD symptoms similar to CBD’s effects on receptors. Participants will be given pharmaceutical-grade CBD, which is more reliable in strength and purity than the supplements that are currently available for sale to the public.

Another Phase 2 clinical trial (to test efficacy and side effects) is exploring whether CBD can help prevent relapse in opioid users by reducing drug cravings. The study is being led by Yasmin Hurd , a neuroscientist who directs the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Hurd is trying to gather other top scientists to study the effects of CBD and its potential benefits in treating substance abuse .

It might seem counterintuitive that a component of marijuana could be useful in treating addiction to another drug. But Blessing says using CBD is very different from using marijuana. Even though CBD is extracted from cannabis, it does not lead to altered perception and cognition.

“Drugs can be non-psychoactive and still have an effect on the brain,” Blessing says. “CBD doesn’t affect the brain, but it does seem to affect it in possibly medicinal ways.”

The results of Blessing’s study are a few years late. But in the meantime, in mid-April, a panel of advisors to the Food and Drug Administration recommended approval of the first pharmaceutical-grade CBD, called CBD. Epidiolex according to the guide , to treat severe seizure disorders in children . That could open the door to further research to approve its use in the treatment of other disorders.

Benefits of CBD Cannabis Against Anxiety and Stress

Dr. Robert Carson is a pediatric neurologist at Vanderbilt University who has evaluated the effectiveness of CBD supplements in children with seizures. He says supplements, such as CBD oil, may be beneficial for these children. However, he says, if the FDA follows its advisors’ advice and approves a pharmaceutical-grade CBD drug, it could open up a new treatment option, namely administering a consistent dose of high-quality CBD.

“One of the main limitations I talk to my patients about when they’re using a CBD supplement is that we can’t guarantee what’s in it,” Carson explains. “We can’t guarantee the consistency.”

Supplements are not regulated as strictly as pharmaceuticals, and can vary greatly from container to container or brand to brand.

And there is another problem that potential users face: even though CBD supplements are widely available for sale, marijuana extracts are surrounded by legal obscurity.

Even if you live in a state where marijuana use is legal, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies CBD extract, or CBD oil, as a substance related to the cannabis plant. “Schedule 1” – the DEA’s most restrictive category. According to the agency, “Schedule 1 drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Advocates of using CBD for medical treatments of illnesses and ailments hope that findings from ongoing studies will help change that thinking about its legal classification – and its potential benefits.