CBD merchants like mine, suffer from the snake oil syndrome.
For those not familiar, there was, during the 1800’s, apparently throughout America a slippery set of scatological salespeople selling Snake oil.
These charming characters would arrive in a town, set up stall and begin demonstrations of their potions, oils, liniments and tinctures – all of which promised to instantly cure, immensely improve and readily restore all manner of ailments and energies.
An apparently random member of the crowd would be selected, suffering from creaky joints and “bad waters”. The oil would be smeared about their person and behold… the cure would take effect and the sales would begin.
Then, they would fold up shop, saddle the horses and move on to the next town.
As they left in the night, they also left an array of disappointed and often rather itchy customers.
CBD = Snake Oil ?
CBD:
is used to support the healing and may improve day to day feelings of wellness.
Snake oil:
cured “everything” from male pattern baldness to the Great Siberian Itch
Ergo: “CBD = Snake Oil” …
But not so fast. A snake oil salesman sleight of hand is afoot:
Statistical Studies and the Placebo Effect:
But, what about statistically supported studies? Where is the evidence for CBD’s effectiveness?
First, I believe we are in the thrall of “statistical dependence”.
Culturally we no longer trust ourselves and our own experience because we have been sucked into the “science” of double-blind, large pool studies, all of which sit inside the paradigm of the completely westernized mechanical body.
We have been trained to discount, to our eternal detriment, the evidence of our own senses and experience. We do this because we have, for at least 30 years been marketed to. The essence of this marketing message is; “Let the Drug do the work”. Or in other words, if it isn’t dangerous, it isn’t effective and it isn’t “scientific”.
There is a lot more to our minds, bodies and experiences than we understand, and westernized medicine finds itself in the dark ages of true unbiased scientific investigation.
There are many types of evidence and scientific enquiry that have been practiced for centuries. I will cover these in a future posting.
Placebo effect: To determine if a drug is effective it must be measured against a control group. This group receives a placebo. For example, a sugar pill designed to mimic the presentation of the real drug. In this way, the study prevents patients knowing whether they are receiving the real medicine or the sugar pill, enabling a true control group.
The placebo is getting stronger!
There are many limitations to solely accepting studies like this as evidence. But one of the most striking and fun facts is that the placebo effect is observably strengthening over time!
And most ironically of all, it is shown in extensive studies exactly like the kind snake-oil accusers point to, that show it. I admit, I can’t hide my delight at this kind of thing.
“An extensive analysis of trial data has found that responses to sham treatments have become stronger over time, making it harder to prove a drug’s advantage over placebo.
The change in response to placebo treatments for pain, discovered by researchers in Canada, holds true only for US clinical trials.”
This example is from Scientific American(1).
What does this mean?
To me this means we should all stay open. Open to our own senses, experiences and beliefs.
We must stay discerning and observant. But not closed.
I often think of the world in cycles. I believe, particularly in the West we have moved to a world of statistics and “settled science”, which is preventing us from exploring the world as we perceive it.
CBD works, because it works with your intention on the level of mind.
Remember this: Your body is about balance. It is self-healing. Do not outsource this power to well marketed statistical studies. At the same time, do not believe every Snake-Oil salesman in town.
It can be tough out there. That is why we support all of our clients for the long term at True Empathy CBD!
