CBD vs THC: What’s the difference?

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It’s highly likely that you’ve heard about CBD, maybe from friends, family, or others that talk about their experience and the important benefits it has. Similar to the emergence of essential oils years and years ago, there are lots of questions in the beginning. Much of the apprehension around using CBD is the understanding of its association with THC. So, here we will explain what CBD is, what THC is, and the separation of these two.  Understanding what’s going into or on your body is important. So, we’re going to talk a little about that from a CBD perspective. Some of this may seem a bit “sciencey” (not a real word), but we want to make sure you have the knowledge necessary to feed the need for understanding. I also encourage you to research more on your own to ease your concerns.
Let’s talk about CBD first. CBD stands for cannabidiol. Cannabidiol is just one of the 100+ chemical compounds found in cannabis. These compounds are called cannabinoids. The most commonly known of these cannabinoids are CBD and THC. THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol. Whew! Try saying that 5 times. It’s a mouthful! THC is one of the cannabinoids that’s found in marijuana, the female cannabis plant.
There has been research to show a wide variety of wellness benefits of both THC and CBD. However, the cannabinoid THC, produces psychoactive effects that people normally associate with the “high” in marijuana. CBD does not contain these psychoactive attributes.

There’s a big difference between hemp and marijuana, including the methods in which it’s grown. We’ll talk more about that later.  Hemp plants contain almost no THC (0.3 % or less).  Marijuana, on the other hand, can have anywhere between 5-30% THC or more and is abundant in the psychoactive cannabinoid. This is why hemp plants don’t get you high.

As the CBD industry grows and increases in popularity, the benefits are explored more and more by people that are doing their own research. The chemical composition of hemp vs marijuana is one of the biggest differences of the two. As mention earlier, hemp doesn’t contain enough THC to get you high, and it’s not cultivated for that purpose. It only has trace amounts naturally present in the chemical composition.  While hemp lacks the THC, it can be farmed to be rich in CBD, the other cannabinoid we spoke about.

Marijuana is usually cultivated expressly for the levels of THC it has within it. There is research that discusses some of the therapeutic benefits of THC itself.  For this reason, marijuana is grown and cultivated for medicinal purposes as well as for recreational use. This use is governed by the laws of each state with regard to the substance.

Although the cannabinoids CBD and THC are both found in hemp and marijuana, the difference lies in the concentrations of each. This is also a reason for the difference in the levels of legality for each of them.

Hemp is grown and farmed to make various products including CBD Oil. The 2018 Farm Bill is responsible for making hemp growing legal as long as it contains less than 0.3% THC. This is a MUST to be considered legal in the US.

Marijuana, on the other hand, is grown and farmed for both medicinal and recreational purposes containing between 5-30% THC as well as some CBD in varying amounts.  This CBD, sourced from marijuana, is only legal in states that allow medical and recreational use of marijuana.

Now that we’ve briefly talked about some of the more prevalent differences between CBD and THC, we hope that it has helped provide a little better understanding. We would be remiss in not encouraging you to make sure you are using CBD from a company that provides COAs (Certificates of Analysis) from third-party lab testing for each of their CBD products. This testing provides information on important things such as date of manufacture, potencies, terpenes, solvents, pesticides, etc. Naturamedic provides these COAs for all CBD products. There’s a QR code on every CBD product to view the third-party lab testing. Naturamedic has gone further to provide USDA Certified Organic designation for some of our CBD products as well. Transparency is key. Making sure you know the CBD product that’s going into or on your body is important. Purity and potency determine your CBD experience.

In a separate article, we’ll also talk about a few common words or phrases you’ll hear in the CBD space and explain what those mean as well.

Thank you for allowing Naturamedic to be part of your journey to wellness and learning more!