Medicinal Pot-Laced Doggie Treats Won't Get Fido High... But They May Get Him Well
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Medical marijuana isn't just for humans.
An Oakland-based company is making pot-laced treats for ailing pampered pooches that owners say don't get dogs high, they get them well. They're called Treat-ibles.
Auntie Dolores Kitchen started selling natural medicinal marijuana-laced edibles in stores and online in 2007. They say their edibles for pets are made with one of the two main active ingredients in marijuana, cannabidiol, or CBD. Unlike its counterpart, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD is non-psychoactive. In other words, it doesn't create the euphoria or high associated with marijuana. However, researchers have found CBD to be highly therapeutic in treating humans for everything from mood disorders, pain, nausea, loss of appetite, and nervousness, to heart health and cancer.
On top of its medicinal benefits, CBD is 100% legal, according to Auntie Delores Kitchen.
In pot-legal Colorado, veterinarians are starting to see cases of dogs cases of who have ingested marijuana edibles laced with THC, and it hasn't been pretty. The psychoactive substance produces dilated eyes, hypersalivation and drunken behavior. However, dogs who eat products with only CBD experience very different results.
Wendy Mansfield of Ft. Bragg, told the Quartz.com her 15-year-old Lab, Kali was so sick she was going to put him down. As a last resort, she gave him a couple of Treat-ibles, and the dog was able to walk without pain, and no longer seemed listless or depressed.
"Never in my wildest dreams would I have anticipated this. It brought my dog back," said Mansfield.
Still, Dawn Boothe at Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Alabama is skeptical. She told Quartz little research has been done to prove the medicinal benefits of marijuana in animals.
"If you want to back up and have a discussion about the scientific evidence on the use of medical marijuana in dogs, we're done because there isn't any." The University of Colorado is doing a clinical study the affects of CBC on dogs with epilepsy.
She told Quartz the lack of oversight on hemp-laced pet products has her wary. Boothe says it is a bad idea to treat pets without the help and guidance of a veterinarian.
"I'd like to think that people would think it's a bad idea to treat children without a physician's advice," she told Quartz. "I think it's the same with animals."