Maybe you’ve heard the story of Charlotte Figi.

By the age of one, Charlotte was having several 30-minute-long, and up to two hour-long seizures every day. She was diagnosed with Dravet Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy that is resistant to anti-seizure medication. By the age of two, Charlotte was on seven powerful medications, some of them highly addictive and physically damaging.

By the time Charlotte was five years old, she was having an average of 300 grand mal seizures every week. She lives in Colorado where medical marijuana has been legal since 2000, and by this time, her parents decided to try CBD oil. As soon as they administered the oil, Charlotte’s seizures stopped. It was an absolute miracle for this embattled family.

Charlotte’s story is one of many.

For the uninitiated, CBD oil stands for Cannabidoil. Does part of that word sound familiar? Yes, it’s cannabis, marijuana. I’m tempted to list the several thousand colloquial terms for it, but I’ll resist.

You’ve probably heard, or at least are aware of, the raging debate about the health benefits of marijuana. Some people tend to be suspicious of these claims, assuming that those making them are looking for some way to legitimize their favorite illegal pastime. On the other hand, you can’t ignore the growing body of scientific and anecdotal evidence that indicates there are some very real health benefits.

But we’ll just let that debate continue. Thankfully, because CBD oil doesn’t contain any THC–the compound that makes you feel “stoned” when you smoke marijuana–it’s actually legal in all 50 states.

Still, the negative outlook surrounding marijuana has stunted its widespread application for health, and that includes CBD oil, so let’s talk about it.

Here are the health benefits of CBD oil that have been tested in a lab, and found to be legitimate:

• It’s an antiemetic, meaning it reduces nausea and vomiting
• It’s an anticonvulsant, meaning it reduces the intensity and frequency of seizures
• It’s an antipsychotic, meaning it can be used to treat a variety of mental disorders
• It’s an anti-inflammatory, which makes it a powerful treatment against a wide range of autoimmune disorders as well as injury
• It’s an anti-oxidant, which means it can help slow or reverse neurodegenerative disorders and help with weight loss while detoxing your body in general
• It’s anti-tumoral, meaning it shrinks tumors and fights cancer cells
• It’s an anti-depressant

Now here are several health benefits people claim CBD gives them, but have yet to be lab tested and/or verified:

• It battles anxiety
• It helps with diabetes
• It is a natural painkiller
• It can treat acne
• It is a digestive aid

As we as a society begin to understand that nature holds for us the cures for our ails, and that synthetic pharmaceuticals—which do have their place—have become pervasive profit-generating products, not necessarily intended for healing.

The resistance to CBD oil and cannabinoids, and the rate at which new synthetic pharmaceuticals enter the market is a good indicator of the bias against cannabinoids as a medical treatment. A 2010 review of medical research into cannabinoids determined that by that time, 37 controlled studies involving more than 2,500 human subjects had been conducted where one-third of new pharmaceuticals are approved by the FDA after only one human trial.

Many of these studies have yielded incredible findings, including the usefulness of cannabinoids in fighting MS, in reducing pain—particularly neuropathic pain, a type of nerve pain associated with cancer, diabetes, HIV and spinal injury, in fighting a range of autoimmune disorders, Alzheimer’s and many more.

Interestingly, these FDA-approved drugs are much better at killing people than anything that comes from a marijuana plant, be it hemp, CBD oil or the flower that people smoke. No one has ever died from a marijuana overdose, but prescriptions drugs are literally the number one killer in America. In the five years between 2000 and 2005, diabetes drug Avandia killed more than 800,000 people. That’s 800,000 more people than marijuana. There’s something backwards about society when we pop pills like candy but throw people in prison for a harmless plant.

It’s truly an amazing plant, and our ability to extract and use CBD oil as a health benefit without any side-effects is encouraging. Now, if we can just get around society’s aversion to it.