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Google Searches for CBD Surge, Breaking Records

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[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap] research letter, recently published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open, indicates an increasing surge in Google searches for CBD, according to an Oct. 23 news release. Google search data was harvested from 2004 through April 2019, and researchers found that the number of searches spiked beginning around 2014.

The research was conducted by John W. Ayers, Ph.D., M.A., from the University of California San Diego, and a team of coauthors. Today topical CBD items can be found on the shelves of major drug store chains. Other CBD items can be found everywhere from gas stations to Walmart. While almost everyone is aware that CBD is a dominant trend in 2019, few are aware of how fast interest has grown.

Searches for CBD remained relatively flat from 2004 to 2014, but in the following years, interest exploded online. There were substantial increases in search volumes of almost 126 percent in 2017 compared with 2016, and 160 percent during 2018 compared with 2017.

During April 2019, there were 6.4 million Google searches for CBD, and researchers believe that year-over-year forecasted search volumes are expected to increase nearly 118 percent during 2019 compared with 2018.

Ziva Cooper, research director at the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, said while people are interested in CBD, more research needs to be done. While he wasn’t part of the study, he observes a number of similar projects. “We don’t know very much about cannabidiol’s effects,” Cooper told USA Today. “People are searching for scientific information on the products … (but) we don’t have very much data.”

According to Cowen & Co., seven percent of all Americans are using CBD products, and that number is expected to grow to 10 percent by 2025. The new research letter provides a snapshot of how CBD has taken over internet searches in homes across the U.S.

 

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