A plain explanation of the plant, the market that grew up around it, and how to judge any hemp cream before you spend a dollar or put it in your bag. No claims, no promises, just what is true.
Hemp is one of the oldest crops humans grow. Rope, sails, paper, cloth. Ships crossed oceans on hemp canvas. Then in 1937 it got swept into the marijuana ban even though hemp cannot get anyone high, and for eighty years one of the most useful plants in agriculture was illegal to farm in America.
In 2018, Congress made hemp legal again. Everything on this page follows from that.
Hemp. Stems and leaves, grown in rows like any other crop.
CBD is a compound the hemp plant makes. It is not intoxicating. It comes in three forms.
Isolate is that one compound on its own, with everything else stripped away. Full spectrum keeps everything the plant makes, including a trace of THC. Broad spectrum keeps the plant’s compounds and has the THC removed during processing.
There is also a trap worth knowing about. Hemp seed oil is a cooking oil pressed from seeds. It costs a few dollars a bottle, it is sold in packaging designed to look like hemp extract, and it contains no CBD at all.
The day hemp became legal, thousands of products appeared. Anyone could print a big number on a jar and sell it. Most people buying had no way to check.
In 2017, researchers published a study in a major medical journal. They bought 84 CBD products online and had every one lab tested. About seven in ten did not contain what their labels claimed. Roughly a quarter had less than promised. Some contained THC that was not on the label at all.
Nothing about the market forced that to change. Independent lab testing is the only thing that ever settled what is actually in a jar, which is why the next part matters more than any promise a company makes. Including ours.
Five checks. They work on any jar, from any company, including the one in the pro shop. Ours included.
Divide the milligrams by the grams. Now you know what is actually in each fingertip instead of what is printed on the front.
An independent lab report, posted where you can read it.
The full ingredient list, the report, and where it is made. A company hiding one of those is usually hiding the other two.
The extract. Broad Spectrum Hemp Extract, printed on the label.
The math. 3,500 mg in a 57 gram jar. That is 61.7 mg of hemp extract in every gram. Check it yourself.
The report. Tested by an independent lab, report posted with the THC line on it.
The base. A liposomal cream base, the first three words on the ingredient list.
What we show you. All twenty two ingredients, the reports, and where it is made. Colorado, from Colorado grown hemp, the same way for ten years.
Every ingredient is on the label. Read it before you buy.
Bonn-Miller MO, Loflin MJE, Thomas BF, et al. Labeling Accuracy of Cannabidiol Extracts Sold Online. JAMA. 2017;318(17):1708-1709.
Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-334 (the 2018 Farm Bill).
Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, Pub. L. No. 75-238.
