The CBD, or cannabidiol, is a cannabis cannabinoid with multiple therapeutic applications. It has become famous because it has no psychoactive effects, it does not get high, and the scientific community attributes to it anti-inflammatory, antidepressant or neuroprotective properties, among others. As a result, the market is filling up with new CBD products such as flowers, cosmetics, beverages or oils for topical or nutritional use.
“Cannabidiol is not addictive or harmful to health.” This was the opinion of an Expert Committee on Drug Addiction of the World Health Organization in December 2017.
According to this report that marked a before and after in the history of CBD, experts issued several conclusions favorable to the use of cannabidiol. On the one hand, they concluded that CBD does not arouse dependence in those who consume it. On the other hand, even if this substance is abused, abusive consumption would not have harmful effects for human beings. In addition, they corroborated that the consumption of cannabidiol does not produce psychoactive effects (it does not alter the mental functioning of humans), nor cardiovascular effects.
With their conclusions, this committee of experts laid the foundations for further scientific and medical research into the properties that they themselves attributed to this cannabinoid. There were no legal changes in Spain on CBD as a result of this report, but there remained the favorable opinion on the consumption of cannabidiol by the most prestigious international medical agency.
In December 2020, the High Court of Justice of the European Union handed down a judgment that established a jurisprudence very favorable to the marketing of CBD products. Contrary to the UN’s view that any substance derived from the dye or resin extracted from the cannabis bud should be controlled, in this ruling against a French company, which had previously been convicted by a French court, the EU TS ruled that:

“A Member State may not prohibit the placing on the market of cannabidiol (CBD) legally produced in another Member State if it is extracted from the Cannabis sativa plant in its entirety and not only from its fibres and seeds”

The court argued that if the legislator’s intent had been to control or ban CBD or the other cannabinoids, it would have specifically included them on the control lists, just as it did with THC. So CBD cannot be controlled internationally.
Therefore, CBD cannot be internationally controlled, being applicable Articles 34 TFEU and 36 TFEU, which must be interpreted in the sense that they oppose a national regulation prohibiting the marketing of cannabidiol (CBD) legally produced in another member state.
Much of this controversy over the use of CBD is due above all to the antiquity of the regulation of the matter, constituted by the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which Spain ratified by adopting Law 17/1967 of 8 April, regulating controlled substances in 1967, and the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Nevertheless, it should be noted that, at its 40th meeting, the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence considered a critical review of CBD and recommended that preparations considered pure CBD should not be listed under the international drug control treaties. According to the report, although CBD is present in cannabis and cannabis resin, it lacks psychoactive properties and the potential to generate addiction and dependence.
Specifically, the Committee of Experts recommended that a footnote be added to Schedule I of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 stating:

“Preparations containing predominantly cannabidiol (CBD) and not more than 0,2% delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are not subject to international control”.

Medical Aspects

The CBD in Spain is not allowed to be used indiscriminately, there are medicines that contain it, but they must be vigorously defended by the doctor who prescribes them, certifying that they will have better results than other usual medicines and at the same time, must be supplied by the hospital pharmacy, this at least until December 31, 2022, we will see how the picture changes later.
CBD has been shown in several studies to be a good anxiolytic. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the main compounds of the plant Cannabis sativa without properties as a drug of abuse. This drug may interact with more than 65 different targets, such as G-protein-coupled receptor 55 (GPR55), vanilloid receptors (TRPV1), serotonin 5-HT1A receptor, mu and delta opioid receptors, and peroxisome proliferator-activated gamma receptor (PPAR-γ). In particular, CBD acts as a non-competitive allosteric modulator of the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1r) and as an inverse agonist of the cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2r).
Several clinical and preclinical studies demonstrated that CBD exhibits antidepressant, anxiolytic, antipsychotic and neuroprotective actions, presenting an attractive potential therapeutic strategy to treat mood disorders.
CBD also has outstanding properties such as:
  • Anticonvulsant. Already being used in children and adults with refractory epilepsies that do not respond to other treatments.
  • Analgesic. According to a study published in the European Journal of Pain, its effects on the nervous system may help reduce pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
  • Anxiolytic. A study published in the journal Neurotherapeutics supports the beneficial effects of taking doses between 300 and 600 mg of CBD to reduce anxiety, fear and improve sleep induction time.
  • Neuroprotective. There are studies, such as one carried out by Queen's University, which seem to demonstrate that it is effective in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, improving or softening its side effects, and there are others that relate it to an improvement, also in the side effects of Alzheimer's disease. However, there is still insufficient evidence.
  • Anti-nausea and antiemetic. It has been tested in oncology patients who have nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, together with other cannabinoids.
Sublingual use is generally recommended (although this is part of the guidance in its use by a specialized doctor).