CBD discovery fueled cannabis research growth
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During World War II, Roger Adams at the University of Illinois and Alexander Todd at the University of Manchester both worked to identify the compounds within cannabis.
Both chemists successfully isolated cannabidiol (CBD) and competed to claim the discovery. Neither found tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which Raphael Mechoulam identified in 1964. Scientific interest in cannabis has increased dramatically in recent decades.
The PubMed database registered fewer than 50 articles mentioning “cannabis” in the 1940s, but that number climbed to 533 in 2006 and is projected to exceed 4,100 in 2025. Much of this research focuses on potential medical applications for conditions like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, autism, and Tourette’s syndrome. Currently, clinical trials lag behind commercial enthusiasm for cannabis products in Brazil.
The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) authorized 850 cannabis products in 2015, but that number jumped to almost 195,000 in 2025, with the sector moving nearly 1 billion reais. Twenty-five companies hold registrations for the 52 authorized products, while 315 patient associations supply members through court orders. Additionally, Brazil is working to digitally recover plant specimens collected from the country and stored in foreign herbaria, including a sample gathered by Charles Darwin in Bahia in 1832.
