CBD Supplements: How will they affect my THC detox or tolerance break?

This article was made possible thanks to my friends over at Green Gone Detox.

This question has been coming up more and more in the cannabis community, as well as in the THC detox field. With many people consuming multiple products, or bridging to a new product when cannabis is stopped, the issue is only becoming more complex. As a pharmacist, I wanted to write a little article about it to clear the air, and help all parties navigate their personal decision-making process better.

What We Know

First off, CBD oils and most supplements are supposed to contain extremely small amounts of THC. Far too small to realistically ever get “high” off of at the recommended doses. Also far too little for a standard THC drug test to detect at the 50 ng/ml level. The current CBD cutoff states no product can legally be sold as a CBD supplement or hemp oil mixture with a THC content of greater than 0.2%. To put that into perspective, most high THC content strains of medicinal grade marijuana are 20% or so by weight, which is around 100x more.

Having said that, I also want to point out some caveats. Firstly, we don’t recommend using hemp oils or CBD when beginning a THC detox. It will most likely only slow you down very marginally, yet it is difficult to quantify. It is difficult to determine the influence this would have on your tolerance if doing a “t-break”, but it most certainly will not help.

Industry-Wide Trust Issues

Unfortunately, some of the products sold online as CBD are actually crafted over the THC limits quoted by the FDA on purpose, to make a product that produces an enhanced psychoactive effect. It is difficult for the FDA to enforce this given the sheer amount of products on the market. Also, some companies may option to quickly fold and just open a new business and new name quickly to elude the FDA in an ongoing game of cat and mouse. It’s difficult to know if the product you’re buying is adhering to the published rules.

Some companies actually post their “certificate of analysis” or COA to show what’s physically in their product as being verified. Still, given all the uncertainty in everything just discussed we don’t advise it. We advise stopping cannabis use, using a tried and true THC detox product to help you along if you need it, and tracking your progress with test strips. Once you are safely under the point of detection you may then have the option to survey the field of CBD products with less concern of getting duped and failing a drug test.