Where does CBD oil come from?” or “What is CBD oil?” are common teasers on WWW or in magazines…most just get your attention with links to their own brand. You see an ad for CBD tincture, and it sounds great– all you would need to get rid of that pain, or help with anxiety, work related stress, etc. Don’t be deceived by looks—it’s what’s inside that bottle, salve or capsule that counts.
Hemp and Marijuana Plants – The Breakdown
CBD—cannabidiol—can be an incredibly confusing market to understand and to purchase in. I hope you feel more at ease with your personal needs and ability to find products that work after reading this.
Glitzy websites with dazzling pop-ups can make their product look superior to others, but it does not make it easier to be an educated consumer. I guarantee if your keep reading thing CBD world and its products will become easier to navigate.
“Where does CBD oil come from?” or “What is CBD oil?” are common teasers on WWW or in magazines…most just get your attention with links to their own brand. You see an ad for CBD tincture, and it sounds great– all you would need to get rid of that pain, or help with anxiety, work related stress, etc. Don’t be deceived by looks—it’s what’s inside that bottle, salve or capsule that counts.
CBD “oil” can be extracted from the marijuana plant or the hemp plant, with the latter restored to “legal” status after being prohibited along with marijuana. Both plants look alike, but one has medical benefits, the other has an added feature you may not want—a “high.”
Hemps Prohibition
Perhaps the pot leaf brings back fond memories and gives some people a mental feeling of once again reliving those days or being young and rebellious or curiosity. Seriously, this is why you see so many brands incorporate that leaf as its logo. Yes, both plants do have a very similar leaf. Other than the obvious, a pot leaf it is nothing more than a marketing gimmick, and it works, but to what end? CBD companies do NOT incorporate a “pot” leaf into their branding that I’ve come across—and I recommend staying away from the ones that do. The capture their buyers with shadows, not substance.
Hemps Natural Appearance
Hemp has a nearly identical appearance to marijuana. Though the marijuana plant contains all the same ingredients as the Hemp plant, it’s important to note is the ingredients. If you smoke marijuana, you get all the ingredients found in hemp—save for THEC, one major difference between the two is simply the THC content. Marijuana’s level of THC will get you high. With hemp, scant trace of THC and no “high.”
What if, for arguments sake, there was a marijuana plant with no or extremely little THC? You will not get high. It’s like trying to get drunk with O’Doul’s. Yes, O’Doul’s is a beer, but the alcohol that gets you “drunk” is not in it. A 12-pack will only send you on more than one trip to the bathroom.
History on Hemp
Hemp has been part of human history for thousands of years, renowned in its versatility. Those schooners with the billowing sails held strong with hemp rope. Clothing, window coverings and other household goods were made from it—including edibles for the nutritional value it offered. Sadly, it was banned because of its similar appearance to the marijuana plant back in the 1930’s. There are many theories including conspiracy theories as to why—one is that, at the time, cotton producers knew hemp was superior for many products and saw that if hemp was taken out of the equation the demand for cotton will go way up, which is exactly what happened. One thing most experts can agree on is that it was a strange and fool hardy decision.
Extraction of Hemp
If one was to take Hemp plant, and use one of the many extraction processes, it looks like goop. In that extract are over 120 cannabinoid compounds. This is also the process to extract THC from marijuana. The difference? A Marijuana pant can have between 8% and even up to 22% of THC–you will get high, there is no doubt about that. Conversely, Hemp extract will have a scant percentage-usually in the neighborhood of 0.1% – 1.5% of THC, enough to leave you pain and/or stress less, but not inebriated.
After extraction, the THC compound can be taken out completely, or left alone, as long as its lab tested to contain below .03% of THC, this sort of oil is aptly name Full Spectrum (or Full Plant) CBD, containing all of the cannabinoids without the high. Some consider this the “best” because the extract has all the good properties of the plant – the CBG cannabinoid which works to fight inflammation, pain, nausea and can slow the proliferation of cancer cells. Researchers document it significantly reduces intraocular eye pressure caused by glaucoma. Strains high in CBG will be beneficial in treating conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s and many post-chemo negative reactions. Now that is just one of the many cannabinoids, there are many other ones with extremely beneficial effects.
CBD – The Friendly Cannabinoid The benefits of just this one cannabinoid are becoming known and popular. CBD has many medicinal properties such as ant anxiety, pain relief, reduction of inflammation and overall well-being. To give you some insight on its power, the FDA seems to be in the “know” about it, so much so, Epidiolex is the first drug produced with CBD for two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.
Why? Because no matter what they did, they found nothing worked better than CBD. Before you write CBD products off as “hype, consider this: Of all the billions of dollars that the pharmaceutical industry has, CBD shown to be most effective treatment. Amazing, isn’t it? Even THC (the “bad boy”) is prescribed to some cancer patients. Because of its beneficent effect, CBD is being prescribed to patients over thousands of pharmaceutical products with too many life-threatening side effects. Keep in mind these are not medical statements, these are the realities being put out there by researchers and actual patients who have benefitted—and their numbers continue to grow.
Three Types of Hemp Extract
Now that CBD is more easily understood, there are three major types you will come across. Full Spectrum, which was explained, is whole plants’ extractions. Next is Broad Spectrum CBD, which all the cannabinoids with the THC completely removed, and its popularity has risen due to containing all of the goodies in terms of cannabinoids except THC. Lastly, Isolate CBD—as the name suggests, the extraction of the Hemp plant was extracted even more just to have the CBD molecule only, nothing else, no CBG, CBN, nothing but pure CBD.
Your most important question is to find out what type of extract you are purchasing and the amount you need to achieve the desired result.
A well-versed consumer can avoid the pitfalls by reading the ingredients and making an informed decision.