For those of us who may or may not have been living under a rock for the past 12 months, there’s this thing out there called CBD. Needless to say, the market of CBD products is saturated. But if you’re reading this post, you likely don’t know that, or don’t know where to begin in the sea of CBD products.
We’re here to break CBD down for you. First, CBD or cannabidiol is not the same thing as THC (AKA “marijuana”). It’s the chemical compound you find from a cannabis plant. Yes, I know what you’re asking: “Isn’t cannabis just, pot?” Yes and no. Hemp is the plant that produces a psychoactive component and then a non-psychoactive component. CBD is non-psychoactive. You won’t (and shouldn’t) feel any effects of euphoria from the CBD plant. If any of your friends tells you otherwise, they should ditch the product, because it ain’t CBD. Though, there is a caveat. At one point or another during our lives, we may have experienced side effects from a certain pharmaceutical drug. There are individuals who will feel “different” when they take Advil or Tylenol. This is the case with CBD as well.
Furthermore, because CBD isn’t regulated by the FDA, you don’t always know what you’re getting. For instance, some CBD products contain trace amounts of THC. If you have a low tolerance for this actual drug, you would most likely feel a “high” after taking the CBD product. But don’t be fooled, CBD is never meant to get you high, no matter how much of it you take.
Now, I know you’re confused by all the jargon: “hemp,” “marijuana,” “cannabis.” This can all get a little confusing. There’s this plant called Cannabis sativa, and it has two species: hemp and marijuana. While there’s CBD in both plants, there’s a lot more CBD in hemp. Hemp only has about 0.3% THC in its plants, which is sort of the “legal limit” when it comes to labeling your product as a CBD product.
Previously, I stated that CBD is not regulated by the FDA. Well, it’s not regulated but there is a CBD-approved product on the market that treats epilepsy. For now, we know that CBD can treat something as serious as epilepsy, but there’s little evidence that it can treat anything else. Your friends and family may swear by CBD for treating arthritis or anxiety, but currently none of those claims are verified.
However, we’ve talked to thousands of CBD users (and are CBD users ourselves) and we have personally experienced the benefits of CBD products. We recommend trying the different methods of taking CBD to see which one suits you the best. Whether it’s vaping, eating, putting on a cream or dropping a tincture under your tongue, we encourage you to responsibly test out a few products over a sixty-day period to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.
Feel free to let us know what you tried in the comments below!