Will Kleidon, a loquacious 27-year-old, and I were sitting in a restaurant called Food Harmonics here on Ojai’s main drag the other day, sipping $5 mushroom coffee with shots of CBD elixir.
Everywhere you click these days, it seems like someone on the internet is talking about cannabidiol—also known as CBD, a chemical compound derived from the cannabis plant. Online retailers market the extract (also known as hemp oil) as a remedy for a variety of ailments, celebrities swear by its healing powers, and the ingredient is popping up in nutritional supplements and beauty products, as well. There’s even a new FDA-approved drug derived from CBD.