Have you ever searched the internet attempting to figure out how much CBD should be taken? Why is it so difficult to find standard dosing? One might think Google would make it an easy endeavor, however it’s quite challenging and comes down to legality. Dosing is a term that can only be used by a prescribing physician. CBD is classified as a supplement and not prescribed by a physician, therefore, only a serving sizes can be recommended. Serving sizes are not standardized and do vary company to company. At this point, you might be thinking that it makes no sense, what if I overdose? Just to put your mind at ease, there are no deaths on record for smoking too much marijuana, ever. That fact alone suggests taking natural CBD is safe since it was a component in every joint smoked. Reading the label is still imperative because too many companies short cut their product, take advantage of confusing information, and just want your money.
Lets break it down further to make more sense and be a guide to make a confident purchase. This picture depicts a basic starting point to find your sweet spot as per CBD BioCare. The sweet spot is what makes the user feel good. Sublingual drops, meaning under the tongue, can get into the bloodstream within approximately 15 minutes. That means it won’t be long before relief can be felt if enough CBD was consumed. They recommend starting at 1/4 dropper or a few drops initially and increasing incrementally and periodically until it is determined enough was taken. Once you determine how much to take, then the second bottle can be purchased based the best concentration, overall value, or intake preference since there are many choices other than drops, such as coffee and gum.
Consumption is the first reason to read the label determining how much CBD is in the bottle and how much a dropper will provide. The second reason would be price and quality. It is truly shocking how much these figures will vary company to company. If the company lacks transparency with ingredients, whether it is an isolate or full spectrum, or if the Certificate of Authenticity is readily available, then do not buy the product as this industry is unregulated and full of scammers.
Remember, since CBD is a supplement, direct claims cannot be made about effectiveness. CBD and marijuana have been illegal and still are in some areas so research has suffered until recently. The cannabis plant was deemed to have no medicinal value, therefore, little to no research was even possible to scientifically prove effectiveness on any level. Ironically, a very sick and desperate little girl, Charlotte Figi, whom suffered from seizures was the reason CBD and marijuana became a thought. The accidental findings of CBD dominant plants having medicinal value for Charlotte began the valid fight for medical use. It was not until the 2018 Farm Bill finally passed in December of 2018 to legalized marijuana's new cousin, hemp and its byproducts. This act alone required a rescheduling of CBD off the Schedule 1 DEA Drug List to finally allow for research to generate concrete scientific data. This is why I always recommend people start with one goal pertaining to a particular issue such as pain, sleep, or tremors when starting their CBD journey verses trying to fix them all at once. Research and users have an idea, but there are no hard and fast rules that apply to everybody. Some issues may correct over time, so it’s a good idea to keep a journal to reference any changes or specific amounts that help or hurt other outcomes like keeping you up at night so you can adjust.
The next section is an excerpt from “CBD: A Patient's Guide to Medicinal Cannabis--Healing without the High" by Leonard Leinow, Juliana Birnbaum, Michael H. Moskowitz. They provide a breakdown with further, more specific serving recommendations to determine what will probably be needed by cannabis treatment professionals.
Micro servings are considered a low level, in the range of 0.5 mg to 20 mg of CBD per serving per day. Micro servings can be helpful for sleep, headache, mood disorders, nausea, PTSD, stress, and metabolic disorders.
Standard servings are the mid-range, between 10 mg to 100 mg of CBD per day. Standard servings have been shown to be helpful for pain, inflammation, autoimmune disorders, Lyme disease, anxiety, depression, arthritis, some mental disorders, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel syndrome, autism, and weight loss.
Macro (or therapeutic) servings are at the high range, between 50 mg and 800 mg of CBD per day. Servings at this level are often used to assist with severe or life-threatening conditions.
This quote serves as a guideline to approximate serving sizes verses a particular ailment. This might help target the appropriate bottle to be set up for success. The next diagram is from CBD BioCare with a breakdown of each bottle to apply needs verses cost.
Once you have the first bottle, it is time to begin your CBD journey! Again it is always recommended to start low (even if you went to the next bottle up) and increase as needed because you may be very lucky and need only a little to accomplish your goal verses someone else requiring more. Sublingual drops under the tongue will take less then 30 minutes to feel its effects if sufficient. Depending on your metabolism, it could be within 10 minutes. So if your first serving was 1/4 dropper and you feel great, stop. If you feel nothing, take a few more drops to equal a 1/3 dropper, and then a 1/2 dropper until you find that desired feeling. The bottle says take two times daily equaling 1 full dropper, but if you have break thru pain in the afternoon, then maybe 1/3 dropper three times daily will do the trick. Remember, there are no hard and fast rules to serving needs, so if your goal is not pain related, one full dropper in the morning or at night may work just as well as splitting the CBD up through the day. Once you have determined how much CBD it takes to reach your sweet spot, then you can determine the concentration size. We chose this brand because it is simply hemp oil and full spectrum CBD; pure and simple. The higher the CBD concentration, the fewer drops will be needed, which will save more money in the long run.
Reach out with any questions.
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First, let’s get to the basics. Cannabis is the plant’s genus name. It consists of three species; Sativa, Indica, and Ruderalis. Sativa cannabis can be described as an up lifting feeling, because the plants grow naturally with high amounts of CBD. Indica cannabis plants grow naturally with high amounts of THC which makes the user feel very calm or high. Ruderalis cannabis plants are uncommon and arguably a subset of Sativa as it grows to a much shorter in height similar to marijuana, but high in CBD. This is where it begins to get a little fuzzy. Law enforcement, domestically and abroad needed a pathway to define and separate cannabis strains to differentiate strains that would not get the user high and could be used for commercial purposes leading to the creation of hemp. Hemp is part of the cannabis Sativa variety and technically grown for industrial purposes such as the huge rope used in the Navy. It’s just that simple. The US Government actually owns the patent on the cannabis plant compounds, but that is a whole other article! Let me be clear, THC forms in all cannabis varieties, so state and federal policies determine which plants are hemp verses marijuana based on the amount of THC contained in the plant when harvested. If the plant contains less than .3% of THC, it is hemp. If the plant contains more than .3% THC, then it becomes marijuana. This percentage was chosen, because it is absolutely pointless to smoke hemp if looking to get high as the THC quantity is too low. Think of it as near beer, never gonna happen. THC is the primary difference between marijuana and hemp with respect to chemical make up. Hemp and marijuana both have varying levels of quality which determine quality, pricing, and medicinal value. The differences, as you can see are very simple, but the spin and jargon create a tremendous amount of confusion, legal issues, and general misinformation.
Hemp just became legal with the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, however, it’s not without caveats. Each state had to determine its’ policy for hemp and marijuana. There are additional laws for legal marijuana states requiring its product to stay in state. Like THC, CBD can be found in both hemp and marijuana. It is illegal for CBD generated from a marijuana plant to be exported out of state even though it’s NO different than hemp CBD. The DEA still considers it marijuana, because it’s a derivative of “cannabis” which makes it illegal. This has been a huge source of confusion in the CBD world and of course, extremely important to know. Next, it’s important to know the country of origin which grew the plant. What quality and part of the plant was used to extract cannabinoids such as CBD? The flower, or bud, contains the highest quality and quantity of CBD. Is the CBD product, full spectrum or an isolate? Full Spectrum CBD includes everything the plant has to offer, not just isolated CBD. The University of Jerusalem proved that an isolate of CBD can only provide relief up to roughly 25mg; anything higher will be a waste of money as pain control capabilities are maxed out. Full spectrum oils, on the other hand, use every component to throttle its medicinal capability. This is especially important in pain management, because an increased amount of CBD will be necessary for pain management. This phenomenon is called the entourage effect, synonymous with synergy, as it works better together. Finally, does the company practice transparency and provide a Certificate of Analysis, or COA? If not, Do Not Buy! Who knows what chemicals, metals, and other contaminants are in the soil, from the harvest, or how much THC is included within the product.
As CBD continues to grow in popularity, it will be everywhere. Cheap CBD is cheap for a reason and the buy should ask why? CBD is classified as a supplement, meaning there is hardly any regulation. The FDA stated that 60% of the packaging on CBD products was misrepresented in some form. The worse cases misrepresented the CBD quantity as far less than labeled and many tested positive for THC. The world of cannabis is unknowingly known. Confusion can be capitalized on easily and that could lead to a dire outcomes for the user. What if the CBD was sourced from legal marijuana states, such as Colorado and California? Technically, that CBD should not cross state lines, however, it does. The lack of oversight and all mighty dollar will always take advantage. Another reason to know your hemp source is because hemp will clean the soil. Russia used hemp to clean and rehabilitate the environment after Chernobyl. Hemp does this by extracting the contaminants out of the ground. I am not suggesting your CBD is nuclear, but I am thinking of mercury, pesticides, mold and other soil contaminants – yuck! Think about countries like China!
A Certificate of Authenticity will tell you everything about that particular batch of oil, so never buy CBD Oil without it. Always buy products from a transparent company. Full spectrum CBD products always use the entire plant and specifically the aerial parts as it contains all the cannabinoids. Finally, choose simple and pure ingredients only. The whole point to medical marijuana and CBD is to avoid a pill, so it only makes sense that the product is organic. No one will care more about your health then you, so here is to making the right choices.
Reach out if you have questions or need help!
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