It seems 2019 may be the year of the CBD athlete. As interest and concern grow regarding the long-term impact of competitive sports on the body and mind, CBD is emerging as a go-to remedy for athletes dealing with pain and stress.
Cannabis Clinicians Colorado, a group that focuses on medicinal cannabis use, currently is seeking former college and professional athletes to analyze CBD’s impact on a host of issues including sleep habits and pain.
“If you’ve played at least one season of college, we’ll take you,” CCC director Martha Montemayor said according to Westword. “That’s pretty elite level, with the amount of work that you have to do to get there. All we require for you to be qualified as a retired elite-level athlete is to at least have played a year, or even a season, in college.”
The study should have a large pool of potential participants as so many athletes have either been joining the CBD industry or coming out in support of it. In the past few weeks, former NFL tight end for the Patriots Rob Gronkowski, Olympians Gabby Douglas, and Bode Miller, as well as World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe, are among the growing list of athletes making headlines in CBD news.
Montemayor will study the participant responses to a variety of products and dosages to determine which combinations yield the best results for physical and cognitive relief.
“Whatever comes out as being a clear winner—or if they all work well—that’s what we want to see,” Montemayor said. “We also want to see if there’s a dosage that people like better than others.”
The study will include an eight-week “active period” where participants will take different CBD products such as topicals, tinctures, and oils. The dosage will start off at 25mg of CBD and will increase every two weeks until participants are taking 100mg per dose in the study’s final two weeks.
For Montemayor, this CBD study may represent baby steps, but monumental steps nonetheless, especially since cannabis and CBD research is notoriously lagging due to federal prohibition.
“What we’re doing right now is less rigorous, but more investigative,” Montemayor said. “We want to look at which products stood out the most, and further analyze how the dosage can affect our participants.”
Anyone interested in joining the CBD study as a participant may email info@mjformds.com. Screenings will be held on September 27 and 28.