Public discussion around cannabis is a minefield for anyone with an opinion on the matter. Those who decry marijuana for its psychoactive effects are easily criticized for ignoring research that hints at the plant’s potential health benefits while those who focus on the health angle tend to do so with disregard for the concerns of the other side.

The truth is that cannabis remains a poorly researched plant in general, due in part to its controversial political position. But there’s something missing from this heated debate, and that is the unique compounds produced in cannabis plants that can be divided into two categories, one with psychoactive effects like Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the other that isn’t psychotropic, but is still believed to have concrete health benefits, like Cannabidiol (CBD).

CBD is one of the best-researched cannabis products, with clinical trials and numerous studies suggesting that it may have a wide-range of medical applications, including in the treatments of anxiety, psychosis, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, nausea, pain and other ailments. CBD interacts with the body through the endogenous cannabinoid system (ECS) or endocannabinoid system, which regulates the body’s homeostasis, or general state of balance, impacting functions like mood, sleep, appetite and hormone regulation as well as pain and immune response.

While consuming cannabis is one way of getting doses of CBD in the body, the compound can be removed from the debate over marijuana’s psychotropic effects because it can be extracted from the cannabis plant and administered on its own. This means patients have the potential of receiving health benefits from CBD without the “high” produced by marijuana’s other compounds like THC.

CBD can be taken orally (ingested), inhaled or sprayed under the tongue. Numerous products are created from CBD, including oil, drops, vaporizers, wax, gummies, drips, dbas, skin-care solutions and edibles such as chocolates, to name a few. But highly concentrated and highly pure levels of CBD are needed to make these products effective, and that’s what Cannabium is striving to make available.

Cannabium is a new ICO using blockchain and the Cannabium crypto token to create a transparent and approachable marketplace for high-quality CBD. With the implementation of blockchain technology, Cannabium is removing the middlemen and making transactions far simpler and traceable.

The smart contracts underlying Cannabium’s efforts help create a balance between producers and buyers. Cannabium also collects and shows users useful data regarding past records, transaction histories and other statistics that helps create opportunities for sourcing competitively-priced CBD extracts.

As recognition of CBD’s potential health benefits rises, so does demand for a high-quality CBD product. Cannabium’s innovative use of cryptocurrency gives buyers and sellers a simple and transparent market where that demand can be met and more people can be reached who may be able to benefit from the medicinal value many believe CBD has to offer.