11 May The Potential Impact of Hemp on Mental Health

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, a perfect time to talk about the hope that hemp-based products – especial water-soluble hemp products – offer to those who suffer from a range of mental health issues. 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety have skyrocketed in this country – and probably all around the world. 

Preliminary research shows that cannabinoid-based products can ease the symptoms of both anxiety and depression. The Veterans Administration has also been funding research to see if cannabinoid products might be an effective tool in the effort to help the countless veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).

Hemp and Anxiety

Anxiety in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Think of it as your very own internal warning system – that feeling you get when you hear a sound in the night, for example. 

An anxiety disorder, on the other hand, occurs when you are sensing danger when there is really no threat present. According to the Mayo Clinic, with generalized anxiety disorder, “The worry is out of proportion to the actual circumstance, is difficult to control and affects how you feel physically.”

Even before Covid-19 made just about everybody anxious, anxiety was one of the top reasons that people were turning to hemp-based products.

PTSD is one of the many conditions for which CBD-based products offer hope. Last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs funded a $1.3 million research study that is looking into whether cannabidiol, or CBD, can in fact help to ease the symptoms of PTSD. They are using a synthetic form of CBD, rather than the kind of water-soluble CBD product that we believe is the most effective, but we are still very interested to see what the researchers discover. 

Hemp and PTSD

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs  reported on a study being conducted at the San Diego VA that is looking into the possibility of using hemp to relieve the symptoms of PTSD. The VA is providing $1.3 to fund the study, which is being run by Dr. Mallory Loflin, a research scientist with the VA and assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.

If you have questions about other types of mental health research involving hemp or about water-soluble hemp, please don’t hesitate to contact us.