CBD stands for cannabidiol and is one of the many cannabinoids, or chemical compounds found in hemp. It’s non intoxicating, non-psychoactive, and comes in different types of products such as topicals and ingestibles.
Frequently asked questions
There is a lot of confusion related to terminology for cannabis, marijuana and CBD, which are often incorrectly interchanged. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound extracted from the main cannabis species and can come from either hemp or marijuana. Hemp-derived CBD must have a tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis. CBD is non-psychoactive and non-toxic.
Marijuana and industrial hemp are different varieties of the same plant species, Cannabis sativa L. Marijuana typically contains 3 to 15 percent THC on a dry-weight basis, while industrial hemp contains less than 1 percent.
In 2018, Congress passed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill), which excluded hemp and its constituents from the definition of marijuana and removed it from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Hemp is a valuable agricultural commodity and contains only trace levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the intoxicating compound in marijuana. Now, by excluding hemp from the definition of marijuana, hemp with less than 0.3 percent THC (and its constituents such as CBD) is no longer a controlled substance under the CSA.
The domestic hemp-derived CBD category is estimated to reach $11 billion market potential by 2027. Nearly 100 million adults will try CBD in the next 12 months.
