United Nations
Cannabidiol is not scheduled under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances or any other UN drug treaties. In 2018, the World Health Organization recommended that CBD remain unscheduled. United States
As of 2021, cannabidiol extracted from marijuana remains a Schedule I Controlled Substance, and is not approved as a prescription drug or dietary supplement or allowed for interstate commerce in the United States. CBD derived from hemp (with 0.3% THC or lower) is legal to sell as a cosmetics ingredient or for other purposes not regulated by the FDA, but cannot be sold under federal law as an ingredient in food, dietary supplement, or animal feed. It is a common misconception that the legal ability to sell hemp (which may contain CBD), and hemp extracts and derivatives (including CBD), makes CBD legal for sale as a supplement or medicine.In September 2018, following its approval by the FDA for rare types of childhood epilepsy, the GW Pharmaceuticals drug Epidiolex was rescheduled (by the Drug Enforcement Administration) as a Schedule V drug to allow for its prescription use. Epidiolex still requires rescheduling in some states before it can be prescribed in those states.In 2013, a CNN program that featured Charlottes Web cannabis brought increased attention to the use of CBD in the treatment of seizure disorders. Since then, 16 states have passed laws to allow the use of CBD products with a physicians recommendation (instead of a prescription) for treatment of certain medical conditions.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a phytocannabinoid discovered in 1940. It is one of 113 identified cannabinoids in cannabis plants, along with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and accounts for up to 40% of the plants extract. As of 2019, clinical research on CBD included studies related to anxiety, cognition, movement disorders, and pain, but there is insufficient high-quality evidence that cannabidiol is effective for these conditions. Nevertheless, CBD is a popular herbal dietary supplement, widely promoted with unproven claims of particular therapeutic benefits. The global market size for CBD was predicted to exceed US$47 billion by 2028.Cannabidiol can be taken internally in multiple ways, including by inhaling cannabis smoke or vapor, by mouth, and as an aerosol spray into the cheek. It may be supplied as CBD oil containing only CBD as the active ingredient (excluding tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] or terpenes), CBD-dominant hemp extract oil, capsules, dried cannabis, or prescription liquid solution. CBD does not have the same psychoactivity as THC, and will negate the psychoactive effects of THC on the body if both are present. As of 2018, the mechanism of action for its biological effects has not been determined. Unlike THC, which acts on the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) as a partial agonist, CBD instead is a negative allosteric modulator of CB1 receptors.In the United States, the cannabidiol drug Epidiolex was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2018 for the treatment of two epilepsy disorders.