Talking about CBD is one thing, but many people slip up and use the words CBD and cannabis interchangeably, which gives the strain name at the dispensary down the road real head-scratching confusion. They are related, but they are not the same. Cannabis is the plant. CBD is one of the several dozen components within that plant. One is the whole thing. One of those is an individual part of that.
It may be the most important thing to sort out. It changes what a product does to you, where you can buy it, and if it’s even legal in your area. A cannabis flower is not the same purchase as a CBD gummy. This is what we were actually talking about: how the pieces fit together. CBD is just one of many compounds
The cannabis plant produces over one hundred identifiable compounds known as cannabinoids. One is called CBD or cannabidiol. One is THC, and THC, specifically, is the one that gets you high. The plant also contains terpenes – the smell and taste of plant material. CBD is one of those compounds, but not the whole panel.
So when somebody says they do CBD, they’re usually talking about a product that is isolated and concentrated, that one compound. It comes from the cannabis plant. The plant is not solely composed of the CBD itself; that’s just one of the compounds that it contains.
Now you see CBD alone in a million different forms. Oils and tinctures placed under the tongue, gummies, capsules, and lotion that you rub into an achy shoulder. This plurality is then compounded by the fact that none of those look a lot like cannabis anymore, which enhances this idea that CBD is its own separate thing. It is not. It started in the same plant. Well, it was just polished enough so the link is no longer evident.
Cannabis Is Hemp And Marijuana
This is where the majority of the confusion is generated. Hemp and marijuana are not two different plants. They are both cannabis. The demarcation within them is a legal, not botanical, one, and is based on the quantity of THC in the plant.
Hemp is cannabis that contains 0.3 percent or less THC by dry weight in the United States. Cannabis over that line is marijuana. CBD can come from either one. That fact explains why CBD is sold from gas station shelves, and marijuana remains behind a dispensary counter.
Why CBD Does Not Get You High
That is, this is how the question actually wants to be answered. CBD by itself will not get you high. It does not behave in the same way as THC for your brain, so a pure CBD product will not give you a high. When you get right down to it, most people grab for it to be less anxious or a little less achy, not to feel stoned.
THC is the ingredient that gives you the high. Meaningful THC is a cannabis product that modifies your head feelings. A CBD product designed to do exactly that keeps THC far below legal limits or removes it entirely. Same plant family, opposite experience.
The Drug Test Question No One Ever Asks Aloud
It is worth raising because it has caught people by surprise. Full-spectrum CBD products retain some THC in the mix. That trace is not even close to the amount for you to get high. Although it is mostly out of the system, in some scenarios, it can still be found on a restricted drug test.
Read the label very carefully if testing is a concern at your place of work. So-called broad-spectrum or isolate products are made without THC. Full spectrum skims a lil bit on purpose. The phrasing is completely skimmable, and every now and then it matters a lot.
How The Word Cannabis Trips People Up
At least some of the confusion is just in the language. Cannabis, despite referring to hemp too, is more typically taken in casual conversation to refer to the stuff that gets you high. Thus, somebody listens to cannabis, visualizes marijuana, and then gets tossed when CBD oil is marked as a cannabis product.
Both labels are accurate. Hemp-derived CBD oil is a cannabis product. High-THC flower is also a form of cannabis. The plant family for the word stretches entirely, inebriating or not. The name just refers to the product itself; What you get is what it says.
What CBD And Cannabis Share
So many ways you could have heaven and hell on earth if they overlap and are worth speaking out straight. CBD comes from cannabis. It is not synthetic and not a completely different crop grown somewhere else. The same plant that produces a dense, euphoric flower is also the one that produces the CBD in a relaxing tincture. It depends on which way it leans, the variety, & the way it is grown.
Because they come from a common genesis, quality questions apply across both. Much like any cannabis product, if the plant was grown poorly, a CBD product can also carry pesticides or heavy metals. It pays to test; lab testing matters, and not just for what gets you high. The plant does not care whether you wanted the compound or not.
Final Words
CBD is one compound. Cannabis is the plant it grows in, along with everything that plant produces. When that clicks into place, the labels stop being in conflict with one another and start actually saying what is in the jar.
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