The media center at
the CBD Center of RI,
in East Greenwich.
anxiety symptoms; potentially interacts
with opioid receptors that can assist with
pain relief; and has anti-inflammatory benefits
that can treat chronic pain (the FDA
even has a patent on this). Other studies
are being conducted to see if CBD may
reduce cardiac and cancer risks or reduce
the development of diabetes or even acne.
Then there’s what he says he’s seen with
his own eyes.
“I had one patient with wet macular
degeneration, a progressive disorder that
makes you lose your eyesight. Patients have
to get injections into their retina on a regular
basis. His wife had used CBD and he
said, ‘I just want to try it and see if it helps
with the aches and pains,’ ” Marano recalls.
“He started CBD and after that he did not
require another injection. His retina specialist
is now going to present it to a board
of other specialists. That’s just one case
where it’s not a placebo effect.”
It’s important to note that the Food and
Drug Administration hasn’t approved CBD
for treatments beyond the product used in
treating rare forms of epilepsy and emphasizes
on its website that it is currently illegal
to market CBD by adding it to food or labeling
it as a dietary supplement. Some CBD products
are marketed with unproven medical
claims and are of unknown quality.
And Marano wants to make clear that he
is not suggesting that CBD should replace
your conventional medicines; it’s always a
good idea to consult your doctor.
Still, why hasn’t the FDA approved CBD
for more treatments?
“It’s hard to speak for these large pharmaceutical
companies, but one of the reasons
may be that this is a readily available,
natural product. Should they bother producing
a product that you can just grow
naturally? I’m a cynic, so I will say part of
it is money,” he says. “The other is it takes
time. The FDA has very strict guidelines;
you have to go through multiple phases
of trials, show efficacy for a specific goal,
do dose studies. It’s a science that’s growing.
But I think in time, with the research
going as it is, you’re going to see additional
FDA-approved categories.”
Until then, Marano will be sharing what
he knows with his own patients as well as
those who visit any of the CBD Center of RI’s
three locations: Johnston, East Greenwich
and Wakefield.
“I have made myself readily available to
any patron of the center,” he says. “So, when
72 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l SEPTEMBER 2020