From time to time, we hear about this group or that claiming to have “invented” a “new strain” of cannabis, one that offers the health benefits of marijuana without the high, seen by many researchers and some patients as an undesirable “side effect.” Whenever you hear such claims, try to remember that THC-free weed wasn’t invented or developed by any scientific team or cannabis breeder — it developed in nature itself.

While that contention itself is controversial — with many patients maintaining that the cannabis high itself is part of its therapeutic effects — recent research showing that cannabidiol (CBD) is responsible for some of marijuana’s healthy effects have led to speculation about the medicinal use of THC-free strains, those which don’t include tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive component of grass.