Many cannabis connoisseurs rightly hail CBD as the best way to introduce the stone-headed skeptic to the many medical benefits being enjoyed by stoned-headed smokers.

But there is a painful risk for those unprepared.

How can a cannabinoid with so many medical benefits, ranging from pain relief, stress reduction and epilepsy care all the way to reducing the cravings of addiction, cause a user pain?

The clue is in the last one “addiction.” Are you addicted to anything?

Many readers will instantly say, “no,” but let me ask you this, when was your last cup of coffee?

Maybe it is not so surprising how many people forget that caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive drug. But a drug it is, and quite an addictive one.

After all, the LD50 (meaning a lethal dose for 50 percent of subjects) of caffeine in humans is only 150 to 200 milligrams for each kilogram of body weight. That is certainly way more than most people will likely ever consume in a day, but it is still an addictive drug that can, even if rarely, kill.

(Conversely, the theoretical LD50 of THC is often placed somewhere around a whopping 15,000 to 70,000 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Scientists have never seen a single human death from any amount of THC (even injected), and lab tests have never been able to get any medium or large mammal to kick the bucket using dope, but they have ended up with a lot of very stoned monkeys.)

But even if you will never be at risk of death from coffee, you may well be at risk of the dreaded “caffeine headache”—a horror I truly hope none of you have to live through.

But I have. Recently.

About a week ago, I started vaping CBD for the first time. I was immediately impressed with this new form of cannabis culture and how the effect is so clear with many of the therapeutic aspects of cannabis still very much present. But one of those effects is the reduction of withdrawal symptoms, which is great, as long as you keep using the CBD until the withdrawal is over!

After a few days of CBD usage, I went back to my regular smoking schedule, without even noticing I had not had a craving for coffee, or even a cup of it, in three days!

When the CBD wore off, the caffeine headache kicked in with a ferocity I assumed was reserved for mornings after the worst kind of alcohol-based decision making. Hellish is too kind a word.

So if you do decide to try CBD for any of its copious health benefits, please remember the mainstream monkey on most of our backs.

Forget to feed it its beans, and it might just bite you!

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