A Weed No More: How a Brazilian Shrub Could Democratize Global CBD Access

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. July 22, 2025: In Brazil’s Atlantic forests, a nondescript shrub long dismissed as botanical background noise may hold the key to the next global CBD revolution—and a more equitable future in health and agriculture.

Brazilian molecular biologist Rodrigo Moura Neto inspects a plant at his laboratory at The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in Rio de Janeiro. The fast-growing, homely plant, Trema micrantha blume, is native to the Americas, where it is widespread and often considered a weed. But Moura Neto recently discovered its fruits and flowers contain one of the active ingredients in marijuana: cannabidiol, or CBD, which has shown promise as a treatment for conditions including epilepsy, autism, anxiety and chronic pain. Crucially, he also found it does not contain the other main ingredient in pot, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC – the substance that makes people high. That opens the possibility of an abundant new source of CBD, without the complications of cannabis, which remains illegal in many places. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)

Scientists have confirmed that Trema micrantha, a fast-growing native plant, produces CBD without THC, the psychoactive compound that keeps cannabis tightly regulated worldwide. The implications stretch far beyond pharmacology: this could reshape how nations in the Global South enter and lead in the $47 billion cannabinoid economy – without relying on the Western-dominated hemp industry or overcoming steep legal hurdles tied to cannabis.

“This is more than just a scientific discovery. It’s a geopolitical moment,” says Dr. Rodrigo Moura Neto of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. “For countries like Brazil, it’s a chance to be producers, not just consumers.”

Unlike hemp, which requires licenses, fencing, and THC testing, Trema micrantha grows like a weed—literally. It’s unregulated, fast-reproducing, and capable of thriving in tropical climates where hemp struggles. The shrub also sidesteps cultural stigma and legal gray zones surrounding marijuana, offering a culturally neutral, legally clean pathway to CBD therapeutics.

As Brazilian researchers secure funding and navigate process patents, they’re openly inviting the scientific community to explore its potential—an unusual stance in a fiercely competitive pharmaceutical space. “Open science can level the playing field,” Moura Neto adds, “especially for Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The discovery also signals a shift toward bio-sovereignty, giving resource-rich but capital-starved nations a way to control their own medical supply chains, reduce import costs, and expand access to plant-based medicine for conditions like epilepsy and PTSD.

Still, challenges remain: cannabinoid yield per acre is lower than engineered hemp, and clinical trials will take years. Yet Trema micrantha stands as a vivid reminder: sometimes, the future of medicine grows unnoticed along the roadside—until science decides to look again.