Researchers in Australia have found that CBD, could one day be used as an antibiotic. They discovered that it is very effective at killing a number of bacteria, including bacteria that have become resistant to other common antibiotics.

The research was presented at the American Society for Microbiology’s annual meeting, which took place last month in San Francisco. Dr. Mark Blaskovich, one of the researchers from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland. His team have shown that  CBD works in animal models as a topical treatment or possibly on bacteria on the skin before surgery. He told the Daily News:

“In terms of resistance, that’s one of the exciting things we have found — unlike other common Gram-positive antibiotics like vancomycin or daptomycin, we found cannabidiol has a very low propensity to induce resistance, which hopefully means it would be safe to use without causing resistance to rapidly appear.” (source)

Besides antibiotic treatment, Blaskovich said CBD could come with other benefits, saying:

“The other potentially exciting thing about treating infections with cannabidiol is that its known anti-inflammatory effects could help treat the inflammation that accompanies infection at the same time as killing the bacteria. We’re looking to see if this helps infection wounds heal faster.” further studies are needed, but CBD could also oneday be used in a pill form against internal infections.”

Further studies are needed, and Blaskovich advised people to continue using approved medicine until more research is done, stating:

“This is still early stage research in the lab – we don’t want people self medicating with CBD oil for infections – see a doctor and take antibiotics!”

Obviously, there is still a lot of research to be done, but so far, there is nothing but positives that’ve come to light.

It’s also important to note that it’s  not the first time researchers have found a link between CBD and antibiotic properties. A study was published in 1976 exploring the antibiotic effects of CBD and THC, finding that Gram negative strains were resistant to both. But since then, studies on the topic have been few and far between. And these days, well-funded antibiotic research is on the decline.