CBD FAQs

Hemp is rich in non-psychoactive phytocannabinoids. Marijuana is just the opposite; its top cannabinoid causes a "high." Both marijuana and hemp are forms of cannabis. However, cannabis does not mean marijuana. Cannabis is the umbrella term under which all forms of marijuana and hemp fall.

While marijuana can contain up to 30% THC, hemp contains no more than 0.3% THC. In other words, marijuana can get you really high, while hemp has such a low amount of THC, that it would be impossible to get high off it.

Cannabinoids are naturally found in the hemp plant. The most abundant one found in the hemp plant may promote and support the nutritional health of aging bodies. Source: US Government patent on Cannabinoids as Antioxidants and Neuroprotectants #6,630,507. Cannabinoids interact with our Endocannabinoid System, which consists of a series of receptors located in the brain, central nervous system, and many other areas. The ECS helps promote/regulate various important biological processes. Our bodies produce some cannabinoids (like anandamide) on their own.

No. THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid that makes you high; CBD does not have any psychoactive properties. While many CBD oils, particularly full-spectrum products, contain trace amounts of THC, it is not enough to make you high.
If you are at a risk for random drug tests, for example through your job, you may wish to choose a CBD oil that is entirely devoid of THC.

CBD oil is generally considered to be safe for most people, and few people experience side effects. Most that do use higher doses of CBD oil than are generally available for over-the-counter use

Hemp oil is the name given any oil derived from the hemp plant; CBD oil is an oil containing high amounts of CBD, made from either the hemp or the cannabis plant. While much CBD oil is also hemp oil, not all hemp oil is CBD oil; hemp oil made from the seeds of the hemp plant will not contain active CBD.

Yes. Now, the keyword here is "hemp-derived." Because CBD from hemp has no psychoactive effects, the purchase, sales, or possession of hemp CBD products are completely legal in all 50 States. Because hemp is sometimes confused with the marijuana plant, there is still some stigma towards hemp-derived CBD, but from a legal perspective, hemp-derived CBD, like Healing Flower, is completely legal and enjoys the rights of any other legal product.

It depends on where you live. Because it has been derived from THC-rich marijuana, marijuana-derived CBD, even its isolated from, is considered as a byproduct of marijuana and is judged accordingly. In some states, marijuana-derived CBD is completely legal, while in others, it is completely illegal, but in most states, its a bit of a mixed bag, each state having CBD-specific laws.

When drug testing is mandated, employers almost always follow the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) guidelines because it puts them on solid legal ground. Typically, there is an overlap between testing guidelines and accepted cutoff levels for drugs and drug metabolites in confirmatory testing and screening.

Because THC is widely recognized as being responsible for marijuana's psychoactivity and euphoria, a routine urine drug screen for marijuana seeks to detect it and its main metabolite, THC-COOH. If the screen in positive, a confirmatory GC/MS (Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry) test is performed to verify the positive urine screen. This test is specific to detecting THC-COOH.

Fortunately, the urine drug screen for THC-COOH is known to have very little cross-reactivity to other cannabinoids that are not intoxicating, such as CBD (cannabidiol), CBG (cannabigerol), CBN (cannabinol), and others. This is good news for "normal" consumers of CBD/hemp oil.

That said, individuals using unusually large doses of a cannabinoid-rich hemp oil product (above 1000-2000 mg of hemp oil daily) could theoretically test positive during the initial urinary screen. Although VERY RARE, the urine screen in these cases would likely represent a "false positive" due to other non-THC metabolites or compounds. When this is the case, the confirmatory GC/MS test would be negative, since CBD and other cannabinoids will not be detected by the more accurate (and specific) GC/MS screen.

Keep in mind that most of the high-quality, reliable CBD-rich hemp oil products contain much less THC than marijuana. For example, hemp contains anywhere from 1/10th to 1/300th of the THC concentration found in marijuana. An individual consuming 1000-2000 mg per day of hemp oil would thus consume approximately 3-6 mg of THC. This exceedingly high dose may result in detection of positive urine screen in up to 11% to 23% of assays.

On the other hand, there is some data demonstrating that at daily doses of 0.5mg of THC from 3-5 servings of most commercial CBD-rich hemp oil products, the positive urine screen rate is less than 0.2%. Again, most servings of typical high-quality, high-purity CBD-based hemp oil products contain well below 0.1mg of THC and therefore have over 400-600 times less THC than marijuana products.

What does all this mean? Put simply, a consumer who uses a high-quality, scientifically vetted hemp-based product at the standard serving size is highly unlikely to test positive for THC and/or THC-COOH. However, it's important to be cognizant that extremely high doses may result in a positive urine screen (that would be subsequently shown to be false via GC/MS). Ultimately, consumers need to be fully informed of the specific regulations posed by their employers and adjust their consumption of cannabinoid products accordingly.