Unless you are completely disconnected from society you have noticed an increase in excitement around CBD and hemp over the past few years. Generally there are very few places you can go without being bombarded with advertisements or products for CBD in various forms, even gas stations have these products readily available. With these products available so readily how can you ensure that they are safe and actually contain what they claim to contain?
Hemp is mostly a legal term in the United States to distinguish the cannabis plant grown for textiles and CBD from cannabis grown that is high in THC. In order to be compliant with the 2018 farm bill the hemp plant has to contain less than 0.3% THC. The ever growing CBD and hemp market has capitalized on that and has sought to sell products that claim to be compliant. Some of these products through independent tests prove to either not contain what they claim to or some even have higher levels of THC than is legally allowed.
Another concern that is not talked about is the growing practices of where the CBD product you are consuming was subjected to along the way. Hemp is a bioaccumliator. This is a fancy term for saying the cannabis (or hemp) plant consumes and stores the nutrients, and other things in the soil. Grown on a large agricultural scale there are likely going to be problems with pest that require treatment with various chemical products. The hemp plant will store these products, ultimately passing them on to you as the consumer. Some labs do test for these products and there are reputable producers that will not sell flower with above legal limits of toxins. Unfortunately this is not always foolproof either, each lab is of varying quality and you may get different results based on where the testing was conducted.
So what is a consumer to do to make sure they are getting what they expect to get? Look into the practices of the places you purchase your product. Local producers may be a good start, also being cautious about the sources you buy from online. You can review the cerificate of analysis (COA) if it is available as a start. Also, avoiding smoking some of these products is wise, stick more to the edibles. As the industry continues to evolve and prohibition continues to march toward a thing of history hopefully safer access will become a reality for everyone.
If you are looking for CBD products where the plants are raised in an organic fashion, complete with vertical integration (the whole process is controlled in house), consider visiting Cannabreeze Hemp, a Loudoun County Virginia Hemp company!!
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