Hold the marijuana: New CBD source found in Brazil

Crucially, he also found it does not contain the other main ingredient in pot, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC -- the psychoactive substance that makes people high.

This is where my interest in this article suddenly diminished.

My neighbor recommended CBD. She says that she takes it daily for arthritis pain. I got some of the chewables, and it was very interesting. Did nothing to help with my arthritis, but made me high as a kite. They say that it isn't supposed to do that, but my doctor wasn't surprised. I am not sure why. Anyway, my point is that I am not going to run out and buy more CBD.

It is also interesting that this new source of CBD was found in a plant that is considered to be a weed, as the nick name for marijuana over here is "weed." The first settlers back in the 1800s called it "loco weed." I wonder why.

This is great news! We can now stop wasting valuable land farming non-THC mullies. Bring on the psycho-buds!

But he is quick to add he won't patent "Trema" itself. He wants scientists everywhere to be able to research it.

"If I dreamed of being a billionaire, I wouldn't have become a professor," he says.

He did not create Trema, so I doubt he could even if he wanted to.

He did not create Trema, so I doubt he could even if he wanted to.

It would not be a "patent" but he could be pushing for the government of Brazil to include trema as a national patrimony protected by biodiversity conventions, which in practice would make much more difficult for anyone not authorized by the government to study and develop anything from the plant.

The obvious problem with not doing it is that it leaves to any international company to dedicate a lot of resources to develop a process to harvest the compound from the plant efficiently (or produce it artificially following the natural process) and commercialize it. I would of course benefit anybody interested in having a cheap and completely legal source of CBD, but it would leave Brazil without any benefit.