Cannabis remains federally prohibited across the United States, but that hasn’t prevented a number of state governments from legalizing the substance for both recreational and medicinal usage. While marijuana is culturally famous, however, CBD treatments derived from cannabis are less well-known by the general public, yet they’re getting more popular every day.
According to a new report from Gallup, 14 percent of Americans say they use CBD products already, and that figure is set to rise in the forthcoming years as additional markets open up to cannabis products. Gallup’s figures indicate that one in seven Americans are comfortable disclosing their usage of CBD products, which still remain socially controversial in many areas across the nation.
Americans polled by Gallup cited a wide array of reasons beyond pain management for their usage of CBD products. 20 percent of those surveyed claimed it helped soothe their anxiety, for instance, whereas 11 percent of respondents noted that it helped them sleep when they were suffering from insomnia. One percent of respondents noted that they were using CBD treatments for their pets.
Gallup claims that women are more likely to take CBD products to soothe their anxiety, whereas men are more likely to take CBD products for sleeping purposes.
CBD products aren’t legally prohibited in the same fashion that other cannabis products are, and have been held up by medical professionals as an effective method of treating patients without forcing them to spend exuberant amounts of money on prescriptions. According to Gallup, 40 percent of Americans who claim to use CBD products, such as Joy’s CBD gummies, cite nonspecific pain treatment as the primary reason for their usage.
CBD treatments have also been relied upon by professional athletes, many of whom have publicly supported the usage of the substance. According to Men’s Health, for instance, dozens of professional athletes have already argued in favor of CBD products, including retired NHL enforcer Ryan VandenBussche and retired NFL linebacker David Ahrens.
Given that CBD is a natural cannabinoid found in the cannabis plant, it’s often associated with THC. CBD does not generate psychoactive effects in its users, however, meaning it doesn’t produce a “high” after consumption. According to the Center for Disease Control, various cannabis products are already being leveraged around the nation to soothe patient nausea and other deleterious effects that induce human suffering.
“For adults with multiple sclerosis-related muscle spasms, short-term use of certain man-made and cannabinoid-based medications improved their reported symptoms,” the Center notes on its official website.
