Speaking at a recent wellness conference, Former President Bill Clinton voiced support for exploring CBD’s potential in relieving pain management. He also spoke to the need for federal testing regulations, reports Cannabis & Tech Today.
The topic came up during a panel conversation between Clinton and Sanjay Gupta, a doctor and medical correspondent for CNN, at the Impact Forum in Orlando, Fla.
CBD was one of many points Clinton and Gupta touched on. Clinton emphasized CBD’s promise as an alternative to opioids, which are addictive.
“There is some evidence that you can get CBD with a low-THC count that will combat pain,” Clinton said. “Some of these products have been tested more or less to FDA standards and some not at all.”
“There is some evidence that you can get CBD with a low-THC count that will combat pain. Some of these products have been tested more or less to FDA standards and some not at all.”
— Former US President Bill Clinton
Presumably to show that he’s discerning about CBD products and the messaging around them, Clinton said: “I try not to answer any of those hype calls but I get more messages about CBD than any man alive. Go figure.”
Clinton noted the need for CBD testing standards if the cannabinoid is going to be used for pain management, especially as a potential alternative to opioids.
“We need to have a national standard of the THC count of these products and what the tests show,” he said. “NYU Langone does some of this testing and CBD could be a viable outlet for pain relief. We could potentially not lose so many people,” Clinton said.
Thirty years ago — Mar. 29, 1992 — Clinton was campaigning for president and famously acknowledged experimenting with cannabis while abroad in his 20s.
“I’ve never broken a state law,” he said at a candidates’ forum. “But when I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale it, and never tried it again.”
Unlike the cannabis he was referring to then, CBD is not psychotropic.
Gupta chimed in in favor of CBD. Originally skeptical of CBD’s effectiveness, he said after first-hand research he’d changed his mind, according to Cannabis & Tech Today.
“I’ve done six documentaries on the subject and I wasn’t a believer before, but I am now,” Gupta said. “I’ve worked on this for so long that I know not only can it work, sometimes it’s the only thing that works for some of these conditions.”
“I’ve done six documentaries on the subject and I wasn’t a believer before, but I am now. I’ve worked on this for so long that I know not only can it work, sometimes it’s the only thing that works for some of these conditions.”
— Sanjay Gupta, MD, medical correspondent for CNN
“We have to figure out the regulatory framework,” Gupta continued. “You got to make sure people aren’t getting harmed by it, but to have a non-addictive option at a time when so many people are dying, I think it’s absolutely true.”
Apparently, however, the former president didn’t intend for the comments to go public.
Originally published as an exclusive in Cannabis & Tech Today, the article was removed from the internet, according to Marijuana Moment.
After it was taken down, Cannabis & Tech told Marijuana Moment the story’s author requested they unpublish after Clinton’s public relations team got in touch to say the event had been closed to press. The annual conference on innovations in medicine and wellness is hosted by the investment firm Tavistock and Fortune Magazine. A spokesperson for the forum confirmed that no press were authorized to attend the panel, and the forum did not issue transcripts or recordings.
The article was later reposted.