By now you’ve probably heard about the cannabinoid CBD. It seems to be all the rage and everyone who is anyone is talking about it. If you look around you can probably find some bottles of the oils in various stores and gas stations. Heck, you can even find CBD in dog treats, drinks, and in some lotions on Walmart’s shelves (Malibu lotions.)
People claim that CBD has calming and anti-inflammatory effects. As the interest for CBD grows be prepared to see it all over the place. (CBD ice cream anyone? – and yeah, that’s a real thing.)
Many people claim that CBD helps them with anxiety, muscle cramps, and spasms. CBD is also an effective anti-inflammatory and if you keep the inflammation down, you decrease pain.
You may have even heard about the 5-year-old girl, Charlotte Figi, with seizures who, after being given CBD oil, found drastic relief. So much that the strain that helped her was named Charlotte’s Web.
Charlotte’s Web contains less than 13 parts per million of THC (if you are using cannabis CBD and not hemp, it’s very difficult to get the THC down to zero.) But even at 13 ppm THC that level could be detected in your urine and could potentially cause you to fail a drug test.
But not all CBD is alike.
The CBD oil and products that you see in stores are primarily derived from the Hemp plant – a cousin of Cannabis that does not contain any (or at least very little) THC (psychoactive) component.
There are several concerns with purchasing CBD made from Hemp:
First, you have no guarantee of what else is included in the product. You don’t know if pesticides were used on the plants, you don’t know how “strong” the plants are, and you don’t know what other ingredients have been used to make the CBD product.
While there are reliable and trustworthy sellers of CBD products, there are also people out there who want to make a quick buck.
From the FDA website:
Over the past several years, FDA has issued several warning letters to firms that market unapproved new drugs that allegedly contain cannabidiol (CBD). As part of these actions, FDA has tested the chemical content of cannabinoid compounds in some of the products, and many were found to not contain the levels of CBD they claimed to contain. It is important to note that these products are not approved by FDA for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of any disease. Consumers should beware purchasing and using any such products.
Second, many of the Hemp CBD oils have been stripped of everything but CBD. While this might sound nice, it’s those added bits, the plant components and terpines working as an entourage that add up to more than the whole.
Lastly, using Hemp CBD is a grey area with the FDA right now. As a result testing is lax. You really don’t know what is in that bottle of CBD oil that you picked up on the way home.
If (when) cannabis becomes legal in New Hampshire, it will mean that you will have access to tested, reliable products containing Cannabis CBD.
You’ll have assurances of how the plant was grown and will know if your product is organic or if it contains any pesticides or harmful chemicals. You’ll also know if there is any THC in the product.
Legalized cannabis products will most likely be labeled so that you know exactly what you are getting.
And, trust me, if (when) cannabis becomes legal, I’m sure there will be plenty of lab testing from the State to make sure products are what they saw they are.
Wendy E. N. Thomas is a candidate for the New Hampshire House of Representatives Hillsborough County, District 21. She is also in the NH Therapeutic Cannabis program. Wendy agrees with the State-wide Democratic platform of legalizing cannabis in New Hampshire, she would also like to see the Therapeutic Cannabis program expanded to include Anxiety, Lyme Disease, and insomnia (for starters.)
Wendy also understands that people need to know about what cannabis can do, how to keep it away from children, and how to use it responsibly (in the same way that the alcohol industry talks about responsible drinking.)
All opinions reflected in this article and any future articles on the Democratic cannabis platform are the opinions of Candidate Thomas and do not reflect any company or industry.
Wendy works at Prime ATC in Merrimack as a Patient Liaison. The contents of this article are not sanctioned by Prime ATC or any of its affiliates.
