[Solved] CBD Oil and Drug Tests
by Earth Mined on February 26, 2019
Cannabidiol (most commonly referred to as CBD) has quickly become one of the most popular natural healing products on the planet, particularly as states all over the US legalize recreational cannabis and open up the opportunity for businesses to sell these products in the first place.
Used effectively to treat pain, anxiety, and even to help people lose weight and fall asleep faster, the FDA recently approved CBD for use as an anti-seizure solution. It’s proven to be especially helpful for those dealing with seizures stemming from Lennox Gestalt Syndrome and Dravet Syndrome, two of the more significant forms of epilepsy.
CBD oil has become so ubiquitous that it’s possible to get your hands on this all-natural healing agent derived from cannabis in dozens and dozens of different forms, including topical oils, skin and beauty care products, edibles, and vaporizing liquids — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
Of course, because we’re talking about something synthesized from cannabis plenty of people are nervous about diving headfirst into the world of CBD oil. They don’t want to pop positive on a CBD drug test, and who could blame them? All kinds of complications across every area of life can occur when you “report hot” during a CBD oil drug test — or any other drug test.
Most people just don’t want to risk having their lives turned upside down should this happen.
Some folks are going to tell you that you have nothing to worry about from CBD when it comes to drug tests. Others are going to tell you that using CBD is almost exactly like using traditional marijuana in the lead up to a test. Figuring out heads or tails of this situation can be a real challenge.
Let us shine a little bit of light on the subject for you so you know what to expect moving forward!
Can I Pop Positive for CBD on a Standard Drug Test?
Right out of the gate, we can confidently tell you that it is very unlikely that CBD is ever going to show up on a standard drug test.
If you’re having to take a drug test for employment the odds are pretty good that screening is going to be looking for cannabis specifically, but that doesn’t mean that they’re looking for ALL signs of cannabis — but instead usually just THC or THC metabolites.
CBD is a cousin of THC (the substance that makes you feel high), but has enough differences in its chemistry that it isn’t going to trigger a positive test all on its own.
It’s the THC that testers are searching for. And while CBD is metabolized just the same way that THC is coming and absorbed into the body in the bloodstream, it usually isn’t going to show up on your standard drug test protocols.
There is a Catch, However…
Toxicologists from the laboratory at Steep Hill Arkansas have gone on record stating that the overwhelming majority of CBD products on the market today include trace amounts of THC, including those that advertise themselves as 99.99% pure.
This is because the majority of producers in the industry believe that hemp based CBD products can be improved significantly with even just low-level amounts of THC. They believe that the THC triggers a more complete biochemical reaction in the body, pairs up with CBD, and amplifies the benefits it is able to offer while remaining in small enough quantities to have no hallucinogenic impact at the same time.
This is obviously going to be trouble for folks worried about popping positive from CBD oil on a drug test.
Depending on the detection threshold of the particular CBD drug test you might be taking (a hair sample test versus a urine sample or oral fluid test, for example), it’s possible that even trace amounts of THC good get picked up during the test — even enough to trigger a positive when you were using CBD that were supposed to be free of these agents in the first place.
Hair sample tests have been designed to detect chronic substance abuse and are much more likely to come up with trace amounts of THC, whereas your standard urine sample or oral fluid test is likely not to have the detection threshold that would trigger with these trace amounts.
Combine that with the fact that the “industry-standard” for THC additives to a CBD product sits at just about .3% in your talking about a real needle in a haystack kind of situation.
Of course, how much CBD oil you use, how often you use it, and whether or not the manufacturer you have purchased from is sticking to that .3% standard will have an impact on your likeliness of triggering positive on that CBD oil drug test.
CBD is unregulated, which means you never really know exactly what’s in a product that promises to contain CBD, and manufacturers that want to cater to a specific market expecting some kind of hallucinogenic properties might be willing to add more THC to their CBD oil products rather than less — and that could get you in a bit of hot water.
At the end of the day, it’s not a bad idea to get your hands on it over-the-counter test similar to the one you are expecting to be tested on in the future. See if your CBD usage pops positive on that DIY test or not and you’ll know exactly where you stand.
Originally published at theearthmined.co.
