Green wave: vermont women in the booming cannabis industry

CBD: The Healing Compound

There is, however, a cannabis product that people can, and are, selling: cannabidiol, or CBD. CBD, a compound found in both hemp and marijuana (both members of the genus Cannabis), is known to have healing benefits but is not intoxicating like tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the compound that gets you high. THC is present in marijuana (Cannabis sativa or indica), at 5 to 35 percent, but occurs minimally in hemp (a nonpsychoactive variety of C. sativa), at less than 1 percent. Hemp is often bred to contain high levels of CBD, and people are rushing to make products with it that are legal, beneficial, and profitable.

Lauren Andrews, owner of AroMed in Montpelier (www.aromedofvt.com) and one of the first people in the state to sell CBD products three years ago, says, “It’s going to be huge. In five years, it’s going to be like craft brewing in Vermont.”