Jason Eisner really wants me to know that there’s weed in my cocktail. At Gracias Madre, the vegan-chic West Hollywood mainstay where he's the beverage director, a Stoney Negroni arrives at the table with the words “puff puff pass” inked on a ribbon of orange peel, and a dime bag of churros dangles from the rim of a Rolled Fashion. If it’s not clear yet that Eisner is a marijuana enthusiast, the Sour T-iesel, a tequila-based sour, comes with a green weed leaf stenciled in matcha powder floating on top. None of these cocktails will get me high, but they’re all infused with cannabidiol, a chemical compound found in cannabis and the latest super-ingredient to hit L.A.

Cannabidiol—CBD for short—is one of hundreds of cannabinoids, the chemical compounds found in cannabis, but unlike THC, the ingredient that makes you high, CBD offers medicinal benefits without the mind-altering effects. “It’s kind of a miracle,” Eisner tells me. “It’s a mood elevator with anti-anxiety and anti-depressant properties, but it doesn’t affect your state of being.”

When I mentioned these observations to a friend, she replied with unwavering confidence: “CBD is the new THC.”

The first time I heard about CBD I was at a “flower tasting,” which is a chi-chi way of describing a dinner party at which different strains of cannabis are paired with every course. As hors d’ oeuvres circulated, a server approached with a tray of what looked like ochre-colored test tubes, each one sealed with a cork and lassoed with a tiny slip of paper which read In the Pines THC 8.9 CBD 11.9. “This is a high-CBD strain,” the server informed me, explaining that it would whet my appetite and give me a buzz, but not turn me into a ravenous fried-chicken attack dog. It was the cannabis equivalent of a spritz.

That night opened my eyes (and not in a “Doors of Perception” way) to CBD, and soon after I was seeing those initials everywhere. I noticed it in hand lotions and deodorants and on The Chalkboard Mag, which described CBD as a “super-immunity healer.” When I mentioned these observations to a friend, she replied with unwavering confidence: “CBD is the new THC.”

Medical marijuana advocates have long touted cannabinoids’ benefits, but because of the plant’s classification as a Schedule I drug, there has been little research in the United States to bolster health claims. It wasn’t until a 2014 provision in the Farm Bill redefined cannabis with less than .3 percent THC as industrial hemp that you could grow high-CBD strains of cannabis legally and buy it without a medical marijuana license.

CBD oil could make it's way into your cocktail, your smoothie, or even your salad dressing. Photo by Alex Lau

Ironically, the most compelling endorsement of cannabinoids comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which filed a patent in 2003 on cannabinoids’ potential medical use. Patent 6,630,507 says that CBD and other non-psychoactive cannabinoids can limit damage from brain trauma, stroke, Alzheimer's, and other diseases. What we still don’t know is whether taking CBD as a supplement can protect us from those neurodegenerative diseases before they happen.

At Erewhon, the L.A. health-food emporium and ground zero for wellness trends, store director Jason Widener believes the answer is yes. He stocks the store’s Tonic Bar with Charlotte's Web Hemp. It's a high-CBD, low-THC strain of cannabis that had a miraculous impact on five-year old Charlotte Figi’s epilepsy. Since the 2014 Farm Bill, the brothers have been shipping their product to all fifty states.

“It’s really powerful,” says Widener, who sources everything from Amazonian reishi mushrooms to wild Mongolian pine pollen for the Erewhon Tonic Bar.

His Good Day tonic blends maca, espresso, and CW Hemp oil with fresh coconut milk and delivers what he calls “a grounded jolt of energy.” After drinking it, “you feel that pop of cognition,” he says, “but your feet stay on the ground.”