I don't put on my tinfoil hat very often. I usually am pretty skeptical conspiracies (though I don't discount them out right either). I usually try to find out which explanation is simplest and I will go with that one until I see some evidence that suggests otherwise. However, a nagging thought has been running through my mind in regards to CBD oil and the states which allow its use but still ban THC containing products. My fear (whether it is founded of not) is that the growing acceptance and use of CBD is being exploited by prohibitionists to continue the war against weed.
Before I go on, I want to make it clear that I am not knocking CBD. It has plenty of positive effects. It can even reduce the unwanted things that come along with THC. It is great stuff, to put it simply. However, it is not the only useful chemical to be found in cannabis. THC and several other cannabinoids are of equal of greater importance. Also, it is worth pointing out that "getting high" is as legitimate of a use as any other, in my opinion anyway.
With that out of the way, we can move on to the meat of this idea (or crazy suspicion) that I have been worrying over. When we, cannabis advocates, were making the case for CBD, we used the fact that it is not particularly psychoactive as a selling point and that worked very well. People who had been resistant to any forward progress in regards to cannabis law suddenly jumped on the bandwagon and that is a good thing. The problem comes as prohibitionists twist our narrative to mean that CBD is just as good as whole cannabis but without the high which is plainly not the case nor is it what we argued.
This willful misrepresentation of CBD and its efficacy is an easy shift for the prohibitionists and their position. Now they can say "I don't oppose medical marijuana and I stood for CBD but these drug addicted druggies just want their drugs" when the idea of true legalization comes up. This might seem like crazy talk (it could be) but we have seen this scenario play out in reality. Several states have introduced some form of CBD legalization and they call it a substitute for medical marijuana. It gives the prohibitionists a false illusion of having the moral high-ground in the debate and that should worry those of us who would like to see legalization happen.
I know this isn't exactly a "conspiracy" but it is close. It is those in power taking advantage of our good intentions. They are exploiting the truth (CBD works) to hide another truth (whole cannabis works for other things). It is being exploited to maintain the tired and false narrative which says that altering conscious is a moral failing and a frivolous activity. Finally, it is being used as a stall tactic to continue to keep the failing drug war alive and, as one who has argued for legal cannabis for almost two decades, it is upsetting to see my and every other advocates words turned into a weapon to be used against our cause.
Have I lost my mind? Have my days as a psychonaut left my brain jumbled and full paranoia? Maybe I am way off base here but the solution that I see is simple enough that it really doesn't matter if this is that serious of a problem or not. I think the prohibitionist narrative of "it's okay if it doesn't get you high" can be counteracted with a slight change in our own argumentation. When we talk about the benefits of CBD, we can also make sure to mention that whole cannabis has different valuable uses too. It is a very minor change but it serves to preempt the misappropriation of our position on CBD.
Peace.
All the images in this post are sourced from the free image website unsplash.com.