Review: Shira Adler’s ‘The ABC’s of CBD’

CBD is the unsung hero of the cannabis plant, while the psychoactive THC takes the spotlight. Shira Adler dispels myths about cannabidiol and highlights its many benefits in The ABC’s of CBD: The Essential Guide for Parents (And Regular Folks Too).

Author Shira Adler

Best-known for treating inflammation, CBD’s properties range from antibacterial to anti-nausea and anti-convulsive. Adler traces CBD to 8,000 BCE, when hemp was cultivated in East Asia, and then to the American Revolution, when George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were the country’s most famous hemp farmers.

Adler uses “cannabis” to denote the marijuana cultivar of the cannabis plant and distinguish it from hemp, and is quick to explain that “CBD can be derived from both cannabis and hemp plants. Hemp doesn’t flower and cannabis does.” She further delineates that “far less THC exists in the hemp plant” and, in a comical discussion about CB1 and CB2 receptors in the brain, compares the body’s endocannabinoid system to the Oompa-Loompas and a set of bowling pins.

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Although there’s a heavy dose of opinion on a variety of topics, the book provides a lot of information in its 192 pages, including the parental favorite, “Conversations with Your Kids.” Addressing one of the cannabis culture’s biggest controversies—CBD isolate versus full-spectrum oil—Adler sides with whole-plant extraction.

EXCERPT: “Let’s look further into what CBD is, and what it does as a chemical compound, to help understand it can combat addiction, and many other physical and emotional challenges. CBD changes lives.”

In the “What, How and How Much” chapter, she explains the different ways CBD can be ingested (from infused water to tinctures), various extraction methods for cannabis oil and exactly why the source of CBD matters. In “Federal Law: The Down and Dirty,” Adler details what’s legal, what’s not and the fuzzy lines in between. CBD extracted from the cannabis plant is federally illegal and therefore can’t be transported across state lines. Any marijuana extracts «containing one or more cannabinoid» us classified as Schedule I drug.

For those who want to investigate the cannabis plant, hemp and the War on Drugs further, Adler tucks a “News & Resources” section in this back of this rather bland-looking book. Consider The ABC’s of CBD as a starting point on the long journey of your cannabis and hemp education.

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