CBD is all the rage among patients. It’s launching their physicians into uncharted territory
WASHINGTON — Corner-store cannabidiol “scares the bejesus” out of Dr. Jacqueline French.
French, a neurologist at New York University’s Langone Health, tries to steer her patients away from sprinting to the neighborhood bodega to buy versions of the hemp derivative that’s better known as CBD.
She, like so many other doctors around the country, is torn — on the one hand, there’s scant guidance for how to treat a patient with a CBD supplement, and there are few reputable sellers who can guarantee what they’re selling. There’s not nearly as much science behind those products as with a typical prescription medicine. On the other hand, there is one FDA-approved drug based on CBD, fully cleared based on the agency’s rules for safety and efficacy, with dosing information at least for the patients who have the two types of epilepsy it treats.
“The last thing that you can do is tell them, ‘Don’t do it,’ because that doesn’t work. You can say, ‘Here’s what I know, and if you decide in any case to do it, please let me know,’” French said. “You
