• Matice Ahnjamine Morris, 30, from Texas, regularly shares vlogs about stutter
• Boasts nearly 30,000 subscribers on YouTube and videos are viewed worldwide
• Claims stammer becomes more pronounced depending on how stressed she is
• Says CBD helps her to relax, which increases her fluency and lessens her stutter
• CBD is extracted from the cannabis plant but is legal and safe for use in the UK

A YouTube star who was trolled for her stutter claims taking CBD oil has helped to cure her speech impediment.

Matice Ahnjamine Morris, 30, from Killeen, Texas, started vlogging about her stammer two years ago to try to raise awareness, having developed it when she was just five years old.

She told how her stutter becomes more pronounced the more stressed she is, and explained that CBD – aka cannabidiol – helps to reduce her anxiety levels, thereby lessening it. 

Matice, who has nearly 30,000 subscribers on YouTube, told FEMAIL: ‘My stuttering is more pronounced when I’m nervous, anxious or when I’m stressed.

Matice Ahnjamine Morris, 30, from Killeen, Texas, pictured, started vlogging about her stammer two years ago to try to raise awareness, having developed it when she was just five years old

CBD helps me relax. And the more relaxed I am, the less I stutter. It made me calm and laid back and when I’m like that, my fluency increases and my stuttering goes down.

‘It will definitely help you relax and if you are a person whose stutter makes you extremely anxious, this will help, 100 per cent.’ 

Charity The British Stammering Association estimates around 700,000 people in the UK suffer from the speech disorder.

CBD is extracted from the cannabis plant but contains only trace amounts of the high-giving chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, making it perfectly legal in the UK. 

Matice, an accountant who works in retirement planning, credits the medication for helping her to stop tripping over her words.

Her advice clips on YouTube have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.  

She said: ‘Since starting the blog, trolls have told me I’m “making a fool of myself” and how I should “write comments down instead of speaking them”.

‘A lot of stutterers tell me that they couldn’t do what I do, to open myself up like this.

‘But I’ve got to the point where I don’t care one way or the other about the bad comments. The people making them are just dumb.’ 

Matice isn’t the only one using CBD to help ease the symptoms of their stutter.

Business manager and lifelong stammer sufferer Jack Gandolfo, from Utah, is penning a book on the subject.

He said: ‘I learned everything I could about CBD and all of its benefits. Within a short time it proved to be the most effective solution to my problem. My speech improved the more I consistently used CBD.

‘I found that the words were more fluent and no longer getting stuck in stressful situations.’

He added: ‘I recognise that it might not work for everyone because of the different severities and causes.’

David Barcly, CEO of leading UK brand CBD Armour, is calling for research into links between stammering and the use of CBD products.

He said: ‘At this present moment in time, we’re still learning about the clinical effects of CBD. We’re at the start of what’s likely to be a long process.

‘And while we have a plentiful supply of anecdotal evidence, we still need proper peer-reviewed scientific studies into CBD before we can make any bold claims.

‘All we do know is that many of our customers have told us they’re taking CBD to help with anxiety, sleep problems to aid general wellbeing.

‘And if CBD can be used to ease the symptoms of stammer, then that’s clearly a development we’d welcome.’

The British Stammering Association, aka STAMMA, says around eight per cent of children will stammer at some point, with most going on to talk fluently. But for up to three per cent, it will be a lifelong condition.

Most stammering develops during childhood and is a neurological rather than a psychological condition.

It is often hereditary – around 60 per cent of people who stammer have another family member who stammers – and mainly affects men.

It’s thought to be caused by an abnormality in the part of the brain which controls language, known as the ‘Broca’s area’.

A spokeswoman for The British Stammering Association says they would welcome research into CBD helping those who stammer.

‘Stammering is not caused by nerves or anxiety, but we are aware that having a stammer can make people anxious as they worry about how others will react to their speech,’ she said.

‘We have not seen any studies on the impact of CBD oil on stammering, but would welcome research into the matter.’

What is cannabidiol, or CBD?

The marijuana plant is made up of some 480 natural component parts, including 66 chemicals that aren’t found in any other flora. These are called cannabinoids.

Cannabinoids are divided into six subgroups, including the two best-known sets, cannabidiols (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinols (THC).

THC and CBD are sort of the yin and yang of marijuana.

Each acts differently on the body because each has its own unique chemical shape that allows it to bind to receptors in our central nervous system.

When it binds with our receptors for it, THC is responsible for the ‘high,’ psychoactive feeling and euphoria associated with marijuana.

CBD has nothing to do with that effect. Instead, it binds to its own receptors and actually blocks the effects of the most powerful form THC takes as it gets metabolized.

CBD doesn’t have psychoactive effects and is thought to soften the less pleasant side effects of THC, like anxiety and paranoia.

It’s unclear whether CBD itself has as the ‘relaxing’ effect promised inside cups of caffeinated CBD latte.

It does bind with central nervous system receptors, and some evidence has suggested that the cannabinoid receptor system is involved in our stress and anxiety responses.

But no one has been able to empirically, definitively show that this is more than a placebo effect.

Source: Dailymail.