With all the hype around CBD being available in everything from Pizza to dog biscuits. It begs the question, is CBD killing Cannabis?
It wasn’t that long ago when just about nobody had heard what is now the most popular three letters in the world… CBD. Otherwise know by it’s full name Cannabidiol, it has hit the international and local scene like a cannabis tsunami. Eradicating all signs of logic and reasonable thought as it lays waste to a landscape that has far more dimensions to it than the mere CBD craze that has come to dominate headlines.
Just about every humdrum product out there is being re-gentrified overnight. Simply add a minuscule amount of CBD to your desired product such as bottled water, pizza, dog biscuits, chocolate, etc. Then stand back and watch in amazement as your investment of just a few cents instantly grows your profits up to 1000%. It’s as if some deranged fairy god mother is flying around sprinkling magical CBD dust on every conceivable thing.
South Africa’s First Dagga Pizza
The canary in the coal mine was the recent Durban Cannabis Expo. Many of the stalls at the event had absolutely nothing to do with cannabis. But were rather somewhat generic products dressed in hipster packaging with a smattering of this magical stuff in them. It didn’t matter whether your sweet tooth, dog, alcoholism, vape pen or penis were suffering from anxiety… there was a CBD solution for them all.
Surely the CBD wave is good news for South Africa?!
Now you may be thinking that that’s not such a bad thing. And do you know what, I agree. This level of accelerated normalization for cannabis is a win in the bigger picture. Everybody and there aunty are suddenly huge fans. But fans of what? All to often a gaggle of grey haired grannies or some fruity scented e-juice rep will tell me. “Ja, it’s only got CBD and none of that other horrible weed stuff in it”.
Now I get that South Africa’s laws only currently permit for the legal’ish trade of CBD in a very diluted form. That means that we all need to stick to that rule of hating the game and not the player. While ensuring that we are patient for that all inclusive cannabis world. A world in which all cannabiniods can live together in harmony. Where all forms of THC, CBD and other cannabis components can be legally embraced for what they are. No matter what your or my motive for responsibly consuming them.
It sure would be great though if we could all put down the price inflated price fake smiles and anti THC passive-aggressive marketing pitches to accept one simple fact. No matter how often we hear about “South Africa’s 1st Dagga this or that product”, there is potentially as little as 0.02 to .0000001% of only this one dimension from a very diverse plant. It’s like someone pissing on your leg and then claiming that it’s raining.
Whether CBD is killing cannabis will be decided by whether we allow it to become a repeat of the long and lingering compromise that hemp has been for over 100 years. A compromise that could cost another century to undo. Let’s celebrate the brands that embrace CBD and be wary of the ones that are only milking the wave. Pay close attention to labeling and doses. While looking for reputable brands from trustworthy retailers.
I’m off to try one of those lekker looking CBD pizzas in the meantime. ‘Cause my lactose has anxiety.
What are your favourite CBD products?
I’m the co-founder of Poison City Brewing and we released the beer Durban Poison, South Africa’s first commercially available cannabis beer. And I fully agree with you regarding the hype around CBD and how THC is treated like the naughty child no one wants to speak about. I love THC and cant wait to release our THC infused beverages but the law doesn’t allow this so the only way we could go was by using hemp seeds. And even then SAPS tried to shut us down, which cost a fortune in lawyers to fight and win but made me realise that its a slow process of breaking down the negative stigma created by ignorance and conservatism. So one good thing about the CBD wave is that its created a much greater awareness about cannabis in general and will ultimately speed up the possibility of the THC we love being fully legalised and available to us in whatever shape, form or flavour we like best.
It’s a shameless moneygrab. It will remain unethical to coat anything in CBD for profit until the plant is 100% legal. Citizens in South Africa are still locked up daily for mere possession by an out of control police force that simply ignore the privacy judgement and police directives. Have CBD coated drivel ever given one cent to legalisation? CBD pizza has a very very bad taste I’m afraid, and it’s NOT in the ingredients…
As far as I knew I assumed the commercial sale of “Dagga” or “cannabis” remains illegal to the general public. How would the sale of a companies products tonthe general public containing cannabis or Dagga be seen as legal?
They are products the products as containing dagga/cannabis/marijuana when the products contain 0.02% or less of just CBD. Reckon these pizzas have as little as 0.0001 or less of exclusively CBD, but are marketed as SA’s first Dagga Pizza… hmmmmm:(