What’s the first image that pops into your head when someone mentions the word cannabis for a lot of people it could be this or maybe this and for those of you that are better at planning ahead maybe even this basically we’re all thinking joints bongs and getting stoned but modern cannabis has become a lot more complex than that nowadays when we talk about cannabis we’re no longer just talking about a plant we’ve broken that plant down into extracts compounds and building blocks with tremendous therapeutic potential as a result

cannabis is starting to look a lot less like this and a lot more like this and that’s actually great news for all of us because the new version of cannabis is a lot more exciting than the old one in fact cannabis has emerged into a modern-day superfood and if we can reset our image of this plant cannabis might actually become more important to your daily routine than coffee so let me tell you how cannabis became a regular part of my daily routine when I was in my early 20s I had a moment of what you could call youthful indiscretion that set my life down a very challenging path I applied for a job on Wall Street to make matters more complicated they hired me it was fast paced and high-stress and

in certain situations that stress could become pretty overwhelming so I tried everything I could to manage my anxiety including prescription medications but those came with their own side effects on my mood and my energy levels so I searched for a different solution and it took years before I actually found one I stumbled upon a little-known can extract called CBD it toned down my stress levels but still allowed me to feel clear-headed and focused and suddenly I was back in control of my daily routine I felt confident and composed and relaxed and I just sort of felt like myself now before you all get the wrong impression let me clarify that CBD does not get you high that effect comes from a completely different chemical called THC and CBD does none of that you could take all the CBD in the world watch the entire Beatles Yellow

Submarine movie and you’re still not going to feel high and trust me on that one see CBD doesn’t impair you instead it seems to have the opposite effect which sounds a little bit like magic until we dig into the science we all have a built-in system in our bodies that keeps our internal functions in balance despite imbalance in our external environment it’s called the endocannabinoid system and it regulates things like stress mood and appetite think of it like the conductor of an orchestra when one piece starts acting out of rhythm for example an overactive stress response the endocannabinoid system can step in and smooth it out CBD happens to be one of the chemicals that supports the function of this system helping that conductor to maintain rhythm throughout the body in the brain and brain imaging studies have actually proven this through these studies we

know that CBD can help to modulate activity in key brain regions involved in our stress response like the amygdala in other words CBD helps your brain to function in a more balanced state when stress level spike ok so why am I telling you about biological systems in brain activity well for one I paid a lot for a degree in neuroscience and I’d kind of like to get my money’s worth the other reason is that this little-known cannabis chemical it’s about to change the way we all think about our daily health it’s made such a big impact on my daily routine that I now dedicate myself professionally to creating healthy CBD options for people that want to give it a shot and it’s not just for people with extreme anxiety or panic attacks either CBT has this gentle calming effect on mood and stress levels similar to a meditation think of it like

the volume knob on a stereo CBT doesn’t shut the noise off entirely it just turns that dial down a little bit so you can hear the music and because of that it’s being used to help people perform better in a wide range of daily stressful scenarios from interviews to networking people that used to have a drink to calm the nerves are now trying CBD instead it is even effective for public speaking [Laughter] [Applause] multiple studies have actually been done on the effects of CVD on public speaking and have found a significant reduction in stress and discomfort compared to a control group and the potential benefits of CVD you go way beyond stress management to because of the broad function of that endocannabinoid system CPD itself can have a wide range of benefits professional athletes are now

ditching prescription pills and painkillers in place of CBD and insomnia acts are turning to CBD is a potential natural remedy for more restful sleep but before you go and toss out any prescription pills I should note this does not mean that CBD is going to cure your anxiety your insomnia or your arthritis there’s no one-size-fits-all solution these things and for many people prescriptions will just be the best option but the implications for CVA are pretty fascinating particularly when you consider that we may have stumbled upon a natural remedy to common ailments that affect millions of people every single day better yet you don’t have to ingest a handful of pills and supplements to get those results CBD is commonly infused into foods and beverages in a way that’s healthy and convenient you can get everything from CBD waters and juices to CBD olive oil and hummus but before we

all go run out of here and share a giant bowl of CBD hummus it’s important to consider the risk factors is CBD actually safe and what happens if we take a lot of it these are all very good questions unfortunately we do have some answers reports currently indicate that daily dosages of CBD up to 1500 milligrams are well tolerated by the body which means they’re safe and to put that number in perspective here’s a graph that shows common CBD dosages and food products today versus what those reports deemed to be safe and you can see it’s not even close you’d have to spend thousands of dollars every single day on CBD infused food even come close to those numbers the World Health Organization has also weighed in on this stating that CVD has a good safety profile and that no public health problems have been associated with CVD use even the FDA which sets the

gold standard for safe food policy in our country seems to agree with all this just last year the FDA noted little indication that CBD has abuse potential or presents a significant risk to the public health even more remarkable CBD doesn’t seem to be addicting either the FDA’s data also found no evidence that CBD causes physical or psychic dependence so let’s recap CBD comes from plants doesn’t impair you safe for adults consumed and could help millions of people it’s a pretty amazing discovery right I think we should all pop open a bottle of CBD champagne to celebrate well actually not so fast because we currently sit at a pivotal moment in the history of cannabis regulation one that will determine if when and how we’re even allowed to purchase cannabinoids like CBD C as a

country we don’t like to change our canvass laws very often we’ve really only done it once before when we effectively made it illegal back in 1937 and since then cannabis has been vilified for its recreational use the idea that weed equals scary is so deeply rooted in our culture that it even affects the way we think about versions of this plant that have absolutely nothing to do with its recreational use like hemp so now after an 80 year failed experiment we’re finally about to revisit the cannabis question and the decisions we make today will set the course of this industry for generations to come now this is obviously a ton of responsibility and it’s very important that we get it right this time part of getting it right means doing more research setting the right market marketing standards right safety

guidelines because as much as we know today there is still more work to be done and a lot of products on the Shelf today just don’t hold up the right quality standards but we can’t continue to put it off to kick the can down the road because the longer we delay our regulatory decisions the longer we deny access to a natural solution to common ailments that should be very treatable we need to move forward based on real science one step at a time now I’m talking you about CBD today because it happens to be a pretty great first step it’s healthy its natural and we have a growing database of research to support its efficacy so how do we move forward on CBD regulation well first we all need to determine what it is there are a lot of people out there who will tell us that CBD should only be a prescription medication those people are called pharmaceutical companies

and there and they’re well aware that this industry is projected to be worth 22 billion dollars in a few short years but maybe we’re a little skeptical of those motivations because if we removed the veil of cannabis stigma CP is nothing more than a natural plant ingredient with therapeutic potential it’s really more like a superfood and fortunately we already have a pretty good blueprint for that thanks to America’s all-time favorite functional food caffeine now I know it might seem strange for me to stand up here and to compare something from cannabis to an everyday item like caffeine but bear with me are they really all that different they both come from plants they’re safe for adults to consume and we use them to improve our mood and our energy levels interestingly

enough caffeine was once vilified too back in 1909 the United States government filed a federal lawsuit against coca-cola for marketing a product that contained caffeine which they deemed to be unsafe nowadays caffeine can be found in all sorts of products from food and beverages to cosmetics and even medication we ensure that caffeine products are safe and labeled properly and then we let people decide if they want it when they want it and how they want it and since I’m sure everyone here has had some form of caffeine today it’s safe to say we’re all pretty comfortable with that system we need to take the same step forward with cannabis because cannabinoids like CBD should be no more threatening than a cup of coffee and if we do it the right way this time we have an opportunity now to give millions of people access to something that could improve their work lives their social lives and their
overall happiness but we need to take a step back first in order to move forward and toss aside those outdated stigmas because this plant is a lot more than just weed cannabis should be viewed as therapeutic so let’s hit the reset button on our image of cannabis starting with a fresh look at CBD and if we can change our perspective on one aspect of this plan maybe we can take another look at the rest of it – thank you [Music] you