Within the Cannabinoid system, CBD acts as an antagonist to THC, attenuating its psychoactive effects, including the negative one: scientists discovered, for example, that smokers consuming cannabis with a higher CBD/THC ratio are less likely to experience schizophrenia-like symptoms. Research has proven that CBD medicinally has anti-convulsant, anti-inflammatory, anti-nausea and anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) effects. Much hope is raised by the fact that it seems to be able to play an important role for new approaches to the treatment of cancer: In clinical studies, CBD showed anti-cancer effects in brain and breast cancer cells and also inhibited lung cancer metastasis. Other fields of medical CBD research conducted by scientists are focusing on neurobiological aspects, and the good message here is that CBD, thanks to its antioxidant nature, seems to have a brain cell protective effect as well. There are strong hints that it may help to prevent brain damage in stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and maybe also heart attacks. And if that wasn’t enough, CBD has been approved to treat inflammation, pain and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis and ease or even prevent epileptic seizures. Another highly interesting field of application is the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there are a lot of reports from ADHD patients saying that marijuana strains rich in CBD are great for calming down and becoming able to focus on things. If one looks at how many million children worldwide are turned into heavily sedated dead-hearted “zombies” by the strong pills they get regularly prescribed, it becomes obvious what a huge blessing the application of the non-psychoactive, very well-tolerated cannabinoid CBD could mean to these poor young people, free of any negative side-effects!

Luc Krol from Paradise seeds has committed himself to the medical aspects of the cannabis plant. Not only has he founded the Medical Cannabis Bike Tour in Spain, that each year raises a high five-digit sum of money to fund independent research into the treatment of cancer with cannabis, Luc has also created and released two medical CBD strains: Durga Mata II CBD and Nebula II CBD. So what made him focus on CBD?

Luc: “Well I realized already a few years ago that people requested varieties that are not too euphoric, not too stoned/high, but with the strongest medical properties. Due to contact with medicinal patients and hearing how the effect of THC helps them getting back on their feet again, literally, after living for years in wheel chairs, sometimes addicted to pain killers, morphine etc. with no sight on improvement until they started to consume cannabis products. Using Cannabis changed their lives for the better and stopped their prescription drugs / pharmacy synthetic drugs entirely to get their normal lives back again! Knowing that CBD compensates the high effect of THC, it would be good to offer varieties that have both cannabinoids inside. This way people/ patients have a more relaxing state of mind and body and still have the advantage of THC which has, in fact, the majority of beneficial properties on human conditions. CBD also has a healing effect especially on patients with epileptic seizures and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome for example, but most commonly known and scientifically proven is the healing property on inflammations of bone and tissue. So I realized that the combination of both THC and CBD in varieties would be ideal for a large group of patients. When I heard that there was already a variety with this high ratio of both cannabinoids, I got really interested in making some of my own for Paradise Seeds. I contacted the group of persons who were doing this and we agreed to collaborate in a project for Paradise Seeds which has resulted, after two years of breeding, in two really good medical varieties. One is our famous Nebula, which is a mostly Sativa like hybrid, and the other is a strong Indica, our well known Durga Mata! In the future we aim to make more CBD rich varieties also with different ratios. In the Nebula and Durga Mata CBD rich varieties, the ratio is 1:1, about 8 % THC and 7 % CBD.”

Durga Mata in its regular form is a Paradise indica strain with highly resinous dense compact buds that finish within eight weeks of flowering, and Nebula regular consists of indica/sativa, in 60-65 days of flowering producing likewise resin-dripping heavy buds. Mr. Power Planter was curious to find out how these two Paradise classics would perform in their new make-ups as CBD rich varieties, and of course also how it would feel to smoke varieties with lots of CBD which he had never experienced before. So he put four feminized seeds each of Durga Mata II CBD and Nebula II CBD to germination, placed into Jiffy pots. All the seeds germinated quickly, after three days the young seedlings were all vigorously stretching towards the CFL lamp hung above them. Mr. Power Planter potted them into 6 liter containers filled with Plagron Grow Mix soil. Due to circumstances, he could give the plants only one week in the vegetative stage, then they were already moved into the flowering chamber, where they enjoyed about 600 Watts of light coming from an Osram Son-T HPS lamp. Which made the eight plants grow in height quickly, and after 9-10 days, the first female pre-flowers became visible. The four Nebula II CBD plants, due to their indica/sativa nature, expectedly grew more dynamically, also sporting a few side branches, while the Durga Mata II CBD plants focused on building strong sturdy main stems that soon were lined with dense indica-style flower clusters. And also the Nebula II CBD plants were busily producing excellent flowering tops along the main stem and side branches after four weeks. “Everything looks pretty normal, I cannot see any difference so far between the regular and CBD-version Durga Mata and Nebula strains”, Mr. Power Planter reported. “This is also true for the resin output of these eight plants, after four weeks of flowering now, the young buds are already coated with lots of resin glands and I bet that, in the end, they won’t fall short at all here of the regular strains. So one can see that a much higher CBD share obviously doesn’t have any influence on the resin production capability of the plants, luckily!”

And indeed, the eight plants had become remarkably resinous after eight weeks of flowering, even THAT insanely resinous that Mr. Power Planter simply couldn’t imagine that these buds wouldn’t give him a mightily strong stoned high as usual. Well, much resin also means much aroma – and these two CBD-rich strains also intensively smelled just like their regular strain ancestors: The Durga Mata II CBD buds gave off a perfume-like sweet odor, while the Nebula II CBD buds proudly presented their trademark honeyed sweet and somewhat fruity smell. At harvest time, all of the eight plants had produced marvelous thick head and side buds oozing with resin. Which also were rock-hard, with the Nebula II CBD buds naturally exhibiting a higher calyx-to-leaf ration than the Durga Mata II CBD buds.