Anything that destroys bacteria or suppresses their growth or their ability to reproduce. Heat, chemicals such as chlorine, and antibiotic drugs all have antibacterial properties.
We now know that CBD can kill both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Both types of bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics. However, Gram-positive bacteria usually prove much harder to kill because they have thicker protective membranes. Examples of Gram-positive bacteria are Staphylococcus and Streptococcus.
According to The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) CBD has been shown to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria (2021) CBD can kill a wide range of bacteria, including Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhoea.
Antimicrobial resistance threatens the already rapidly declining viability of modern medicine. Allopathic medicine is largely dependent on the successful prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. Unfortunately, there are few new therapeutics in the clinical pipeline, particularly for Gram-negative bacteria.
Examples of Gram-negative batcteria include Coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and other Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Moraxella, Helicobacter, Stenotrophomonas, Bdellovibrio, acetic acid bacteria, and Legionella. Other notable groups of gram-negative bacteria include the cyanobacteria, spirochaetes, green sulfur, and green non-sulfur bacteria.
A detailed evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of CBD (cannabidiol), the main non-psychoactive component of cannabis has confirmed previous reports of Gram-positive activity. The breadth of pathogens positively tested now includes highly resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Clostridioides difficile.
Results show cannabidiol can selectively kill a subset of Gram-negative bacteria that includes the ‘urgent threat’ pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae. CBD has the potential to become the basis for a new class of antibiotics.