You can’t turn a corner without someone touting CBD oil as a useful tool in your arsenal for near enough any issue you have.
Many of these claims are hearsay, but others do have some validation through science: Albeit, mostly pre-clinical and animal-based studies which examine the use cases for CBD.
The problem isn’t if CBD can help improve your wellbeing but the fact that finding a product that is fit for sale and contains what it says it does is difficult.
But why’s that?
The CBD Industry lacks regulatory oversight
The rapid rise of the CBD industry has come as a shock to regulators who are now trying to catch up.
Agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) do not currently oversee the CBD oil industry.
As a result, CBD products can often be of poor quality and mislabelled, leading to consumers wondering if CBD is all hype and a dud.
Some countries have been faster than others to take action and put the CBD industry on notice that it needs to change its ways.
According to CBD brand Nature and Bloom, the UK has already taken the first steps to regulate the industry beginning April 2021. Still, in the states, brands and retailers are awaiting guidance from the FDA, who have confirmed they are looking into measures to regulate the market but haven’t confirmed anything yet.
Unfortunately, in the interim, many shortsighted players are employing a crash and burn strategy by selling low-quality products as fast as they can before any future regulations hit the US market.
As a consumer, there are some simple things you can do to ensure you only purchase high-quality CBD products which are not incorrectly labeled.
Four things to look for when buying CBD Oil
As the wild wild west of CBD continues ahead, due diligence is in the hands of the consumer.
You cannot assume a CBD oil contains any CBD at all without making these quick checks:
- Does the brand provide a Certificate of Analysis (CoA)? Trustworthy brands test their products with a third-party lab that outlines both product contents and the presence of any contaminants (if applicable). It’s essential that the CoA is in the brands’ name and relays back to a final product (it should outline which exact product the certificate is associated with, not just a raw material like CBD Isolate).
- How is the CBD sourced? Ask the brand questions about their sourcing strategy. It’s also useful to know how the CBD is extracted from the hemp plant. The gold standard is hemp grown under organic farming practices and extracted using supercritical CO2.
- Is the product full or broad-spectrum? Cannabinoids and other plant metabolites work in harmony together via the entourage effect. Science suggests whole plant extracts such as full spectrum or broad-spectrum CBD has a wider set of benefits than a pure CBD Isolate.
- How receptive is the brand to your questions? Genuine operators understand the ambiguity surrounding the industry means people will have questions, and many of them. If you’re asking questions and not getting through answers, it’s usually a signal of a more significant problem around the other three points.
It’s not all bad
The industry continues to grow at an extraordinary pace, and there are more and more brands that are now operating ethically.
It might cost you a little bit more to find CBD oils that do what all the anecdotal reports suggest they can do, but it’s worth it for the sake of your health.
Until we see the regulatory changes poised to shake up the market here in the states, we will need to keep our hands on the buzzer and continue to do our own due diligence.
