13 clinical studies indicate the use of CBD oil for depression. The Chinese were the first to appreciate the medicinal properties of his the cannabis plant. Literature from this period suggests that cannabis was recommended for absent mindedness, rheumatic pains, constipation and disorders of the female reproductive tract. Chinese doctors used every part of the plant, including the seeds, stalks, oil, roots and leaves. The drug was administered in pills and in various porridge style pastes.
Cannabis was also used in Ayurvedic medicine which originated in India. Cannabis increases ‘gastric fire’ or digestion. The first major work to lay out the uses of cannabis in medicine was the Ayurvedic treatise of Sushruta Samhita written in 600 BC. This book described over 700 plant based medicines.
In Western medicine basing their knowledge on the Greek and Roman physicians Dioscorides and Galen, medieval herbalists in the West recommended cannabis for a variety of cures including coughs, jaundices, and bed wetting. In 1693 English painter and author William Salmon wrote that the seeds, leaves and juice of cannabis, plus essence and decoctions were all widely available in pharmacists shops. Later William O’Shaughnessy (1809-1889) Assistant Surgeon and Professor of Chemistry at the medical college in Calcutta published a paper entitled ‘On the Preparations of the Indian Hemp or Gunjah, their effects on the Animal System of Health and their Utility in the treatment of Tetanus and other convulsive diseases.
The US Pharmacopeia would continue to list cannabis until 1941. But whereas up to the 1930s cannabis was seen as a positive, useful medicine, in 1936, under the bombardment of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, negative campaign, the experts capitulated to ignorance and propaganda, and it was downgraded.
The war on drugs and the war on cannabis continues. However through the power of new media, people movements, and intelligent scientists, attitudes are changing quickly. There is a growing body of evidence for cannabis in the treatment of numerous diseases from cancer to depression.
Here are links to 13 studies that show signs for hope with the use of CBD in the treatment of depression;
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21916860
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24923339
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19839936
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24180398
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20002102
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21111017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20332000
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19394765
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22373123
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19732971
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24652522
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27010632
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26711860