With a lot of attention surrounding CBD over the past 5 years or so, some other cannabinoids have gained attention as well. One of these is CBN, or Cannabinol. Like CBD, CBN is a cannabinoid found in hemp and marijuana. Many people have heard of it, but most do not understand exactly what it is or what it does.

Research on Cannabinol has been fairly thin and we do not truly know a lot about it. However, a few studies have been done and a lot of Anecdotal evidence has been gathered over the years. Since scientific studies are limited, we are going to need to discuss anecdotal evidence as well in order to get a picture surrounding CBN’s effects.

Sleep

Studies on CBN and sleep are limited and date back to the 1970’s and 1980’s. The evidence is somewhat split, some showing positive effects, and some showing no effects. Anecdotal Reports indicate that CBN does possess sedative and pain relieving effects that help with sleep.

A lot of the anecdotal reports, however, involve CBN being Combined with CBD, THC, or both. Our experience indicates that CBN alone may not be effective for sleep or pain. When combined with CBD or THC, results tend to be different.

A study done in 1975 evaluated the effects of THC and CBN alone, as well as in combination. What it found was that THC alone produced a drugged, drunk, dizzy and drowsy effect on subjects. CBN alone did not produce these effects, and has little perceivable effect on subjects. However, when CBN was combined with THC, it increased the original effects of the THC. This means that subjects had more intense feelings of being drugged and drowsy when they combined CBN with THC.

It should be noted that this study was performed in a group of just 5 men. This was an incredibly small and homogenous test group. However, these effects seem to be completely in line with hundreds of anecdotal reports, and our personal experience. This would suggest that CBN has little effect on sedation alone, but increases THC’s sedative effects when combined.

Although there does not appear to be an unbiased study on the effects of combined CBD and CBN, anecdotal reports indicate that together they may have similar results to the THC/CBN study. If true, this would mean that CBD can increase the effectiveness of CBN without the high.

Pain

A 2019 study evaluated CBD and CBN for their pain relieving properties alone, as well as together. The results of this study indicated that CBD and CBN have analgesic properties alone, and these effects were increased when they were combined. It is no surprise that CBD had these effects, however it is one of the only well constructed studies that indicates that CBN has these effects alone.

What this means is that for people experiencing pain and/or inflammation, adding CBN to their CBD can increase its effects. Other cannabinoids may be useful to further increase pain and inflammation reduction. Most of these studies are confirming early beliefs of the “entourage effect” of cannabis. The entourage effect refers to the fact that cannabis seems to have hundreds if not thousands of compounds that when combined are far more effective than any of them alone.

Conclusion

While we would like to see many more conclusive studies on the effects and benefits of CBN, we believe the anecdotal evidence appears consistent. Mostly, it seems that CBN is effective for pain and sleep when combined with other cannabinoids. Often, THC and CBD are combined with CBN for increased benefits. Cannabinol, on its own however, has limited scientific or anecdotal evidence of being effective.

If you’re interested in learning more about the minor cannabinoids, check out this article on CBG.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31158702/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1221432/

The post What is the hype around CBN? first appeared on Synchronicity Health.