Feldman, who is a lead researcher at Oxford University in London and was made a UK knight in 2010, brings an important cache as Copeland Bioscience's chief research officer as the firm makes CBD the focal point of its product development.

"Marc is as squeaky clean as you can get," Copeland said. "He is going to lead the charge of research in the CBD market, straight research, real research."

"He was the one who approached us. He loved what we were doing and looking at. It was a huge feather in our cap to get his mark, to put his name to what we're doing and take the lead in research for us."

The work should reveal not only why CBD works and what it does, but "how it works," Copeland added. "What is its effect in the body that is really going on."

With little generated from research so far on CBD's potential uses and its safety profile, Copeland Biosciences aims to be first with conclusive results. "We don’t want to be close to the line. We want to set the guidelines for anything to do with CBD," Copeland said.

CBD Anti-inflammatory Benefits: For Copeland Biosciences, That's The Rub

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