The cannabis plant is one of the oldest crops in history, with an esteemed record of serving mankind in a variety of forms, including medicinal ones. The subspecies of cannabis are Cannabis Indica (commonly known as “marijuana”) and Cannabis Sativa, or hemp.
In its hemp variation, the flowering cannabis herb has been used for 10,000 years in the production of valuable fiber. Once used for sailing canvases, today industrial hemp is commonly used in the fabric industry. Meanwhile, hemp’s cousin marijuana is known more for its use as a psychoactive drug which is illegal at the federal level, but decriminalized in a handful of states for recreational or medical use.
One thing they both have in common? They produce Cannabidiol, or CBD. CBD is a muscle relaxer, among its other properties. But the difference is, unlike hemp, marijuana also produces Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC…that’s the part of the plant that gets you “high.”
CBD Oil Isn’t about the High
Many users have no interest in getting high. They just want the relaxing effects of the CBD without the other effects produced by THC. Such consumers have a few options. Hemp cannot be smoked the way marijuana can be, so you cannot get a CBD dose from smoking hemp. Yes you can find low-THC marijuana, but it still has high enough amounts of THC to make it not legal everywhere.
The alternative for many, then, is to buy CBD oil. CBD oil is a concentrated extract and it can be extracted from either hemp or marijuana. But again, if it comes from marijuana it will contain traces amounts of THC and may not be legal everywhere. Hemp-derived CBD oil, on the other hand, is perfectly legal and can even be ordered online.
So what’s the downside to buying hemp CBD oil? Lack of quality assurance standards. Hemp is an industrial plant and the methods by which producers extract and concentrate hemp CBD oil have been called “suspect.” The fact is, it’s not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. This is not to say all hemp CBD oil is garbage; it just means that a lot of it is.
Marijuana Regulations
By contract, marijuana grown for medical use is highly regulated. Indeed product testing standards are often higher for medical marijuana (and therefore for marijuana-derived CBD oil) than many other pharmaceuticals. So when buying marijuana CBD oil, at least you know you are getting a higher quality product. It just may not be legal where you live.
And that’s why hemp CBD oil has found a large online market as a “diet supplement.” Sellers can ship their legal product to you anywhere. It just may not be worth the price you pay for it. Actually the FDA sent out several warnings to many sellers after having determined that their oil didn’t even contain CBD!
Other FDA warnings included phasing such as, “Your marketed products are offered for conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners.” Of course, many people believe that “Big Pharma” drives a lot of the FDA “harassment” of these online CBD sellers, since CBD users are bypassing traditional (and expensive) prescription drugs. There may be some truth to the fact that the pharmaceutical industry’s profits are being cut into when consumers chose cannabis products instead. But buyers should beware, either way.
Benefits of CBD Oil: The Truth and the Fiction
Obviously if you intend to purchase a CBD oil product for yourself or someone else, you must have some reason for doing so. Benefits attributed to CBD nearly paint it as a panacea. It is an “anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, antioxidant, antiemetic, anxiolytic and antipsychotic agent.” Basically it can do everything but wash the dishes.
But it wasn’t until a 2006 story about the little girl Charlotte Figi spread across the news like wildfire that the market demand for CBD truly skyrocketed. Figi, a sufferer of Dravet syndrome, had battled epileptic seizures for years before her first experimental dose of medical marijuana, which substantially reduced her symptoms. The drug was quickly dubbed “Charlotte’s Web” by the producers, the Stanley brothers out of Colorado.
People fighting epilepsy began seeking ways to purchase the magical cure for themselves, and in America, supply will always catch up to demand. Anxiety and chronic pain sufferers also began web searching for ways to get their hands on the stuff. But many online “snake oil salesmen” exploited this opportunity, perfectly happy to brew up some of the “miracle drug” in their kitchens and hawk it over the net to unsuspecting consumers. One company the FDA sent a nasty letter to had claimed that their product was able to “GET RID OF YOUR CANCER CELLS.”
Clearly if you are in the market for CBD oil but see such unsubstantiated claims on a website, i.e. that their product can cure diseases and other illnesses, then that’s an obvious flag that you’re dealing with a scammer.
Marketers tell potential customers what they want to hear. They feed on fears, offering false hope to those desperate enough to take a chance. Again, this doesn’t mean that CBD oil isn’t a viable product. On the contrary, in a high quality form, it can be very effective at relieving symptoms of several medical issues. But therein lies the rub; how to find a high quality product, especially if you live in a state where medical marijuana dispensaries are not present.
For those buyers, online sellers of hemp-derived CBD oil may be the only option. And there are over 200 brands to choose from. We recommend approaching your search conservatively and with a bit of expectation management. Instead of seeking blatant, brazen claims that the product can cure whatever ails you, consider those sites which do the opposite, sites which avoid outright claims. Phivida CEO John-David A. Belfontaine says his company goes out of its way to “avoid making direct health claims on the CBD contained in its products.” That sounds like a responsible approach (and no, this isn’t an endorsement of Phivida).
Good luck on your hunt for a top notch CBD oil! We hope you find one that can offer some relief for whatever symptoms you may be enduring.
Please don’t take anything you read here as medical or legal advice. If you need medical or legal advice, consult a doctor or lawyer. The articles and content that appear on this website have been written by different people and do not necessarily reflect the views of our organization.