In recent years, cannabidiol has become very popular in the wellness industry, with lifestyle and beauty brands highlighting its therapeutic benefits for many health conditions. Many products today are incorporated with CBD, from serums to drinks.

The Duchess of Cornwall revealed on her visit to the Swiss Cottage Farmer’s Market that she has heard ‘fantastic’ testaments about CBD, surprising the audience during her talk.

A visit to the market

Camilla visited the market with the Prince of Wales to celebrate their 20^th year. She tried CBD hemp oil by putting some on a piece of bread. She exclaimed that the oil was ‘wonderful.’ Hemp oil is extracted from the seeds of a cannabis plant.

The Duchess told Sophia Lysaczenko, owner of Hempen stall where the oil came from, that she has spoken to individuals suffering from severe maladies like epilepsy who have tried CBD and greatly benefited from it. She described the oil as fantastic since it is helping many people overcome ailments.

In her Evening Standard interview, Lysaczenko stated that the Duchess was knowledgeable about CBD. She noted how on-board Camilla was about the cannabis-derived substance.

Besides trying the hemp oil, the Duchess also sampled some products around the market, including caviar and cheese from some of the stalls. They were also entertained by performers from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with a flash mob presentation of Oliver.

CBD in the UK

Cannabidiol has gained quite the exposure due to it being closely related to marijuana—both come from Cannabis sativa L. species. The difference is that CBD does not cause psychoactive effects that users experience when trying marijuana.

Today, CBD is known as a natural remedy for many health conditions, such as chronic pain, epilepsy, and PTSD. However, most of these therapeutic claims are mostly unfounded.

CBD is legal in the UK as long as it is derived from industrial hemp duly approved by EU standards. It should not contain THC to be allowed for sale and use in the UK.

The only exemption is the NHS-recognized Sativex, a CBD-based drug for multiple sclerosis that contains both CBD and THC. The NHS has recently implemented it into the healthcare system along with another CBD-containing medication for intractable epilepsy, Epidyolex.

Now that the NHS has allowed CBD-infused medication into the system, advocates are hopeful that other CBD products will gain more acceptance from the buying public and the government. Experts are also pushing for more research on CBD to gain concrete evidence about its efficacy.

The UK, like the rest of the world, is still struggling to regulate CBD products as of now due to it being a relatively novel discovery. As more people try it, the CBD market expands as well, which ultimately leads to the issue of sorting through what is real and what is not.

Bill Turnbull of BBC breakfast show fame has prostate cancer. His ongoing battle with the deadly disease is not being dealt with by chemo sessions but rather by Cannabis Oil. In a recent show for BBC, he spoke with his old colleagues Naga Munchetty and Dan Walker about how his experience with cannabis oil for cancer is turning out to be enjoyable. He also mentioned how the combination of CBD along with giving up alcohol and meat and rejuvenated his health. He told the presenters that his current health was in pink and he did not feel any pain. His decision to adopt the CBD way of healing vis-à-vis the conventional chemo has indeed brought some good results.

The moment his belief in chemotherapy disappeared in 2017, he decided and was firm to adopt any alternative therapy which will help him. The inspiration for CBD came to him when in the UK a 14-year-old boy miraculously recovered from his cancer and how every passing day he is feeling better. After taking CBD oil, he feels he has been the healthier version of himself. On further questioning, he also said that due to lack of research he was unsure about how much to take. That is why he has stopped taking it and is urging the medical sector and government to undertake more research.

Research in a way would also mean that people’s curiosity and fears will be settled. CBD has been there for thousands of years but we have only recently known its good and bad. A substance with that much potential should never be ignored or pushed to the background. The hemp-extracted plant also has anti-inflammatory properties with less than 0.3% THC levels. It is different compared to marijuana because of THC and also the effects it produces like intoxication and excessive addiction.

Despite being so beneficial in treating lots of ailments like cancer, joint pains, Alzheimer’s diseases, depression, and insomnia, people still attach a lot of stigma to it the way they attach to marijuana. Many medical foundations want to give this a try and have divulged that they will soon be funding research for CBD and its effectiveness. Recently a welfare organization has researched to see if CBD is effective in silencing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The research is slated to begin next year and if effective will establish CBD as one of the major ingredients not to be missed in medications.

Bill has currently stopped because he does not want to risk its dosages. He feels invigorated after the changes he had made to his lifestyle and feels fresher and lighter than ever. His colleague also joking tells him that she has known him as a meat lover and this dramatic change is surely worth a mention. Turnbull agreed to this but has said that he has given up meat majorly and alcohol completely and feels better after doing so. He feels that he has mellowed down quite a bit.

All the revelations were made by Bill in a show documentary called Staying Alive. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017 and found that this cancer spread very easily. In the documentary, he also spoke at length about his treatment procedure and coming to terms with the deadly disease. He also mentions to his friends and hosts of the show that he has felt that this was quite a point of realization for him and time to look back at the truth.

His tryst with cannabis oil has been successful. When he was first diagnosed he was given little time to live which extended up to 8 years of age. But he also becomes practical that one day he has to go and will live the number of years he was destined to live. If while living and not living he can make himself feel better then he sees no harm in it.

Bill Turnbull has accepted his conditions and believes that he has a strong family force behind him to feel stronger. It is due to the immense love that his family has shown and the way they have backed him, gives him more reason and strength to recover.

In one of the lighter moments of the clip he is also shown smoking cannabis and amidst laughter explains the wonders of the product. Bill has not been a keen follower of CBD but believes that if it can be used for medicinal value then there is no harm.

He feels that there should be something right in it that 20 countries have now legalized it. The authorities should have a healthy discussion about it to take it forward instead of neglecting its potential.

The show ended with Turnbull feeling emotional about how the family took the news and how devastating it was at the beginning to come to terms with it.

CBD vape users thought the product they puff could grant them a soothing feeling but instead caused them to take a trip to the ER. It’s because what they inhaled contained a tinge of synthetic marijuana, which caused bouts of hallucinations and seizures.

As soon as the outbreak ended last year, more than 50 individuals in Salt Lake City were poisoned by the vape brand ‘Yolo!’, which colloquially means ‘you only live once’.

There are some hundred or so vape users who are reported to have developed strange lung diseases, with around 30 deaths resulting from the incident. Users attribute this unfortunate circumstance to Yolo.

Law enforcers and public health officials made investigated, yet there is little information about the substance or where it came from.

The Associated Press digs deep

With the event of CBD vapes being illegally spiked and causing psychoactive effects on users, The Associated Press investigated on the matter to understand the Yolo story.

They traced it to an entrepreneur from a Southern California beach town who made a career change following her vaping habit. It is also what led her to a change of scenery, from Hollywood parties to a Manhattan federal court.

In 2010, Janell Thompson moved to San Diego from Utah and found the roommate whom she first met online. She also vaped.

Thompson and her roommate’s shared interest in vape soon turned into a business. Using her financial services background, Thompson founded Hookahzz, an electronic cigarette company.

The company showed promise and early success as they distributed Hookahzz products during a pre-party at the Emmy Awards. Their vape products were also included in gift bags for Oscar nominees in 2014. An industry insider called them the ‘divas of CBD’ in a video filmed at a particular trade show.

Hookahzz is one of the first companies to market vapes infused with CBD or cannabidiol. Nowadays, CBD is mixed as an ingredient for many products such as gummy bears and creams, which used to be illegal in some states and virtually unknown during that time.

The business partners also developed other CBD brands that sold edibles, capsules, and pet products. Thompson pitched their CBD pet items with the story of her dog’s tumor being treated by the substance.

Selling the spiked vapes

In the autumn of 2017, Thompson and partner founded Mathco Health Corporation, a new CBD company. In just a few months, their Yolo product was being sold in stores around Salt Lake City. The said product contained K2 or spice, also known as synthetic marijuana.

Significantly cheaper, manmade synthetic marijuana is commonly extracted from hemp.

Samples sent to a lab in Utah showed that Yolo has synthetic marijuana and no trace of CBD at all. It is responsible for the death of at least 11 people in Europe.

Authorities figured that some users tried Yolo to get high, while others were unaware of the presence of synthetic marijuana in the product. However, they were boggled about the product’s source. The Utah Bureau of Investigation were grasping at straws since no seller would talk about Yolo. The packaging also doesn’t have any contact details.

Come summer of 2018 when a former bookkeeper from Mathco prepared a workplace retaliation complaint and gathered evidence of the corrupt business practices she believed the company did. Tatianna Gustafson did her research and got ahold of online pictures showing Yolo as the culprit in Salt Lake City poisoning.

In the complaint she submitted to the Department of Industrial Relations in California, Gustafson wrote that Mathco excluded how Yolo was manufactured in the product’s promotional material. It was missing contact information and ingredients list on the label.

Another former Mathco employee named Justin Davis stated to AP that Yolo profit margins were more substantial than other products.

Implications of the ex-employee complaint

Gustafson’s filing of the complaint showed that Mathco, with incorporated company JK Wholesale, manufactured and distributed Yolo. Thompson’s initials were found in the company’s financial records, signing as the chief salesperson for transactions.

Records also showed Yolo being sold in six more states, including South Carolina. A case reported one college student going into a coma after vaping the said product.

Gustafson also tipped the Utah Poison Control Center regarding the people behind Yolo in her complaint.

Barbara Crouch, director for the state’s poison center, confirmed getting the tip that she passed to the Utah investigations bureau. Christopher Elsholz, SBI agent, made contact with the tipster who revealed that Yolo was distributed by the company she was working for. Since the company was out of their jurisdiction, Elsholz forwarded the statement to the DEA.

DEA Spokeswoman Mary Brandenberg took no action despite offering help. The agency considers spiked CBD as a low priority since they face more significant issues like the opioid epidemic.

How Thompson was caught

It wasn’t synthetic marijuana that ultimately led Thompson to the federal court.

Vape brands Black Diamond and Black Magic had reportedly sent 40 North Carolina residents to the hospital, including military men and school students. Investigators linked Thompson to the said outbreak due to a guilty plea of the spiked vape distributor who insisted it was Thompson who supplied the vape liquid.

Thompson also pleaded guilty to charges by New York prosecutors concerning the distribution of K2 and money laundering. They cited Yolo as the spiked brand.

US Attorney Geoffrey Berman labeled Thompson as a drug trafficker who distributed large quantities of K2 through JK Wholesale since 2014. She is facing prison time of up to 40 years.

Katarina Maloney, roommate and business partner, excluded herself from Yolo and Thompson in an interview last August at Mathco headquarters. She received no charges in the federal investigation.

A supplementary email from Maloney stated that the Yolo found in Utah did not come from their company. She wrote that their corporation does not engage in the illegal product market. She also insisted that their CBD products are 100% law-abiding.

However, Maloney denied requests to show lab results for their Yolo products.