Are you in the Mood for CBD?
A recent product shoot commision came from a start up CBD business, which has raised my awareness of the benefits of CBD, whilst I was already watching the development of cannabis legality and use in general.
Everyone is aware that cannabis or marijuana in the UK is an illegal class B drug and that there is a strong debate around it being legalised for medicinal and recreational use. In the USA cannabis is illegal to grow, use and distribute at federal level but many states have independently legalised it for production and use. If you watch any realtor house tours on YouTube some will point out that cannabis is growing next to the vegatables in the ‘yard’. Enes Yilmazer is a realtor turned YouTube broadcaster and runs two channels, Enes Yilmazer and Enes Plus. A recent tour of a cannabis farm on the market for $80m in Northern California is interesting viewing: https://youtu.be/sf6jqlDobZk
My understanding is where state and federal law conflict, federal law prevails but if the US Goverment isn’t interfering with individual state approvals on this, it presumably is watching closely to see the social and economic impact.
The incoming administration in Germany has said that one of the things on their to do list is to legalise cannabis. No doubt the rest of the EU member states will be closely watching as will the UK. Setting aside the change in dynamic with criminal activity the aspect I’m interested in is the medicinal applicaitons.
I cannot fathom why cannabis, in one form or another, isn’t widely legal as a prescription drug in the UK. The NHS/Doctors routinely prescribe/administer many drugs otherwise illegal for possession or use. There was some movement in 2018 with a change in the law allowing senior clinicians to ‘prescribe medicinal cannabis to patients with exceptional need’. This seemingly acknowledges the benefits of medicial cannabis so why isn’t it more widely used? It can’t be claimed that it’s a new drug with little information available.
One suggestion I have read is that the cannabis plant family is a medicinal game changer and has so many fantastic uses across many ailments it could imbalance the pharmaceutical industry’s hold over drugs. Is cannabis that potentially powerful?
What is CBD then? Is it cannabis?
Talking about CBD often triggers a reaction in people. Mentioning CBD to the unknowing and referencing cannabis in the explanation can create a negative reaction to those assuming CBD is a form of ‘weed’ (if they oppose cannabis use). There are some big distinctions to be made here both legally and in terms of use.
The term ‘cannabis’ is something of an umbrella word encompassing the cannabis plant with its varieties, one being hemp.
If we focus on marijuana and hemp we can start to filter pre-conceptions and drill into the differences. Basically marijuana has high levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and it is this compound that gives you the hallucinogenic high. The hemp plant however has very low levels of THC but high levels of Cannabidiol (CBD) which doesn’t offer a high but potentially many health and wellbeing benefits.
THC still exists alongside the CBD in a hemp but in lower levels. The processing of the plant can control the amount of THC present in the extracts which gives for different types of CBD:
Full Spectrum CBD retains many compounds including up to 0.3% of THC.
Broad Spectrum CBD contains a number of the compounds and typically no THC (allowing for trace amounts).
CBD Isolate is the third common form of CBD and is pure, containing none of the other plant compounds.
The UK Government changed the law in 2017 to make CBD with no more than 0.2% THC legal.
After legalising CBD, what happened?
The market exploded. Since 2017 the range of products contaning CBD and the number of start up businesses has been extraordinary. Filling a section of the health and wellbeing market, often placed alongside supplements and ‘alternative medicines’, CBD is growing exponentially. It is starting to break out from the supplement market as a whole wellbeing product in its own right and can be bought in teas, balms, oils, foods, creams, sweets and so forth with it popping up in new products almost weekly.
The benefits are said to help with anxiety and stress, sleeping issues, aches and pains as well as other complaints, although for the time being actual medicinal results cannot be specifically claimed. Supporters of CBD benefits are anecdotal, but if it works it works! No doubt the labs will be announcing proven medicinal links soon as CBD becomes more mainstream.
When George came knocking…
When George and Matt first approached me I wasn’t completely in the dark about CBD and as I said have followed to some degree the debate about legalising cannabis and more pertinently, medicinal cannabis. In my opinion regardless of your position on recreation cannabis, UK Doctors should have medicinal cannabis in their armoury, just as they have a myriad of prescription only drugs. So I quite enjoyed the opportunity to photograph MoodCBD’s products.
Mood CBD created their website and branding using cgi and graphics and asked me to start the process of translating with their actual product. With the photos now populating the website and being fed to Instagram, alongside online ordering being live, I can showcase some of the photos.
At the time George knocked on the door their website wasn’t live but was almost ready. It had been fully populated with cgi and graphics and even now, with my photos finding their homes, the website is a blend of the two. What I needed to do though was capture the essence of the graphic style laid down and use pastel colours for backdrops. We set to work collating what we needed and started shooting.
Mood CBD offer CBD Oil as the heart of their product line. There are many CBD Oil products available on the market so Matt told me that they wanted to offer something different. One of their first decisions was to tour the US looking for the best hemp farms, so that they could choose their supplier at source. They wanted a high quality product right through their supply chain. Then they researched ingredients to help boost various needs: “In addition to premium broad spectrum CBD, our products are infused with ingredients - including Ginseng, Ashwagandha, B12 and Chamomile, that induce bodily reactions (stress reduction, energy boost, focus, sleep) we need to feel at our best.”
With CBD now legal in the UK there is a still a curious conflict in that you can’t buy the raw material in the UK. UK Hemp growers can only grow and sell to markets using hemp for other product such as clothing. No CBD raw material can be harvested so to create your CBD product you need to import your CBD raw material.
Do you like your sweets?
Oil was just the start though and other products are already available with more planned. Gummies are a favourite and a common method for people to enjoy their CBD.
CBD is appearing in so many products from oils to teas, to creams, peanut butter and make up. The list is long and growing and as we know markets expand exponentially; by 2025 the market is estimated to be worth in excess of £1billion across the UK alone. Matt and George, with their MoodCBD journey, have chosen well.
