By Zoe Watkins —

Stores and ads selling CBD oil are popping up everywhere but science says that the newly-hot substance might not be the cure-all its users are hoping for.

CBD oil is vastly different from marijuana. According to the Harvard Health Blog, cannabidiol is the second most prominent ingredient in the cannabis plant. CBD is extracted from the hemp plant which is related to marijuana.

The substance does not cause the high that many people think it does.  The other major component, THC, is what gets the user high. THC is not in CBD.

There has been evidence CBD oil helps relieve and manage pain and help with certain types of epilepsy. CBD store owner DeeDee Taylor said the body needs cannabidiol as the brain has certain receptors that work with the body’s endocannabinoid system.

Taylor said on her blog, “This network is spread out all over our body and in the brain and accept phyto-cannabinoids (plant derived) as its own body manufactured endocannabinoids. Some of these receptors affect how you perceive pain. When ingested and absorbed into the bloodstream, CBD will travel and find the receptors and actively block pain. The ability of CBD to change your brain’s perception of pain is what makes it an effective sedative and alternative natural pain killer.”

Though many owners that market CBD oil claim it can ease many ailments, there is a lot of research left to be done.

Some researchers say the federal government is making it difficult to conduct experiments.

Time magazine interviewed Dr. Esther Blessing of New York University. She said, “It’s my opinion that the government should step up, so we can do clinical trials and get this out to people.”

Students on campus said they benefit from CBD.

Freshman Haley Hartley began using CBD oil during her junior year of high school to help ease the pain in her muscles from Lyme disease.

“It relaxes my muscles. Decreasing knots, spasms, and less of an arthritis feeling. Overtime our muscles can learn from the CBD use on no tensing up so much when they shouldn’t because mine would always be tense for no reason,” Hartley says.

She says people can use the oil for pain from simple headaches to arthritis. Hartley also said CBD can  be used for stress as it helps balance her thoughts and emotions.

“I think CBD is more of therapy than anything likes drugs honestly. It helps with everything in the body and I would totally recommend it to others. I know my friend even takes CBD pills for her stomach and before the pills, she would have to miss school because she was in so much pain or would throw up and the CBD has helped her so much,” Hartley said

Senior Sawyer Redding uses the oil for relaxation and to relieve stress from long days of working.

“Everyone has their vices. It’s better to have one that’s not actively harmful to other people than to become an alcoholic or a sex-addict or something that’s gonna actively participate the harming of others,” Redding says.

He recommends CBD oil to anyone who is interested, but said users need to know their limits as everyone has their own level of tolerance.

“I’m supportive of everyone doing whatever they like. So, my stance has always been that people should be allowed to act as they please,” Redding said.

“The fear of drugs is something that is propagated from an older time. As a more enlightened and an older people, we should be able to look past the deformed days of the past,” Redding said.

Photo by Zoe Watkins // The Louisville Cardinal