How Author and Activist Martin A. Lee Launched the CBD Revolution

Author and activist Martin A. Lee is probably the reason you know about CBD—now he’s telling the history behind the cannabinoid. “It has really changed the whole conversation about medical cannabis,” he said. “Where previous to the advent of CBD, or the reappearance of CBD, really, the discussion was about, ‘Is this for real? Does this really work, this medical cannabis?’” Lee’s book “Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana” was published in 2012. He is also the co-founder and director of Project CBD, a nonprofit established in 2010 that promotes research into the medical uses of CBD and components of the cannabis plant. “We were the first group, actually to advocate to the medical marijuana community in California about CBD,” he said “We were involved in introducing CBD, both physically, the plants, and in terms of education to emphasize that there are other options besides the THC orientation—the ‘get high’ orientation—for medical cannabis.” Lee said he’s not entirely sure how to feel about CBD’s current popularity, but he emphasizes that cannabis has far more to offer. “CBD, you, you can kind of think of it as kind of a medical rockstar, but when you really get down into it, it’s the combination of CBD and the other parts of the plant,” he said.