Frequently Asked Questions
What is CBD?
CBD stands for cannabidiol. It is one of more than 100 chemically-related compounds found in the hemp plant that are collectively known as cannabinoids. Cannabinoids promote health and physiological balance. CBD is the major cannabinoid found in industrial CBD hemp plants. It is also found in marijuana plants but to a much lesser extent.
What’s CBD good for?
CBD*
This is a general discussion about CBD’s effects. Clearly some CBD products are intended to be ingested while others are meant to be used topically. Alchemy Science™’s topical products are intended only for use on unbroken skin and should not be ingested.
Research evidence suggests that CBD may be able to help with assorted aches and pains and other concerns. Some research on particular concerns can be found in the articles linked in the research reference list.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease.
The amount of scientifically published studies has literally exploded in the US since industrial-hemp was federally legalized in the 2018 US Farm Bill. Before that, it was extremely difficult for US scientists to obtain legal CBD to conduct research. They were required to obtain CBD from NIDA, the National Institute of Drug Abuse. This was difficult, time-consuming and required reams of red tape. Clearly, the public interest in CBD and other cannabinoids has also contributed to sparking greatly increased scientific interest in the US. The National Institutes of Health is also now funding much more research into the human endocannabinoid system as well as the effects on it of phytocannabinoids from hemp and other plants.
Israel has been a pioneer of cannabinoid research. As mentioned in the previous FAQ, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam at Hebrew University first identified the chemical structure of CBD in 1965. Now over 90, he is still conducting cannabinoid research and is often referred to as the “father” of cannabinoid research. He and his team have made many important contributions. For example, they have created a synthetic cannabinoid called HU 331, a chemotherapy medication for cancer that’s more effective than doxorubicin, a frequently used chemical for chemotherapy. HU331 is also much less toxic to the heart than doxorubicin.1 More recently they’ve synthesized a stable form of CBDA, cannabidiolic acid methyl ester. CBDA is the acidic version of CBD and as well as its precursor. Cannabidiolic acid methyl ester appears to be very potent at alleviating depression, anxiety, and nausea.2,3
1. Kogan NM, Schlesinger M, Peters M, Marincheva G, Beeri R, Mechoulam R. A cannabinoid anticancer quinone, HU-331, is more potent and less cardiotoxic than doxorubicin: a comparative in vivo study. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2007;322(2):646-653. doi:10.1124/jpet.107.120865.
2. Hen-Shoval D, Amar S, Shbiro L, et al. Acute oral cannabidiolic acid methyl ester reduces depression-like behavior in two genetic animal models of depression. Behav Brain Res. 2018;351:1-3. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2018.05.027.
3. Pertwee RG, Rock EM, Guenther K, et al. Cannabidiolic acid methyl ester, a stable synthetic analogue of cannabidiolic acid, can produce 5-HT1A receptor-mediated suppression of nausea and anxiety in rats. Br J Pharmacol. 2018;175(1):100-112. doi:10.1111/bph.14073.
Reference list for CBD effects
Will CBD make me “high”?
CBD is not psychoactive and will not make one feel euphoric or “high.” CBD is typically distilled from industrial hemp that has been bred to have high levels of CBD but very low levels of THC. THC is the cannabinoid that is psychoactive.
Industrial hemp in the United States has, by definition, no more than 0.3% THC, a very low percentage that is much too low to have psychoactive effects. By contrast, the marijuana plant is bred to have very high levels of THC to produce a strong high.
What are the differences between hemp plants and marijuana plants?
While they are both botanically Cannabis sativa, hemp plants by US law have been selectively bred to contain less than 0.3% THC content. In contrast, marijuana plants have been bred to contain at least 20% THC.
Industrial hemp further breaks down into plants bred primarily for their CBD content and plants bred primarily for their fiber content and edible seeds.
Recently, hemp plant geneticists have begun breeding strains of industrial hemp that, in addition to CBD, have higher contents of other non-psychoactive cannabinoids that may also be medically useful.
The New York Times recently published an excellent article on the surprisingly recent history of CBD industrial hemp plants. The url for the article is: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/sunday-review/coronavirus-cbd-oil.html .
Is CBD legal?
As of the Farm Bill of 2018, CBD derived from industrial hemp is federally legal.* Some states have certain restrictions such as not allowing CBD to be used in food and beverages.1
1. *Accessed at https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/is-cbd-legal-state on 10/13/20.
Will CBD show up on a drug test for marijuana?
Perhaps. Although not likely, it’s not impossible. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the compound in cannabis that makes one high. CBD will not. While most of the THC urine tests don’t confuse THC and CBD, there is at least one test which uses a chemical called trifluoracetic anhydride, that will. So if you use CBD and need to be tested for THC, you’ll want to make sure it’s not this test! Certainly, using CBD on your skin in a cream or lotion will not cause you to fail the test as the CBD does not get into your blood or urine.
What is the endocannabinoid system?
Cannabinoids from plants, also known as phytocannabinoids, have an effect on us because humans and other animals are “hard-wired” with an internal cannabinoid system called the endocannabinoid system (ie, the internal cannabinoid system). The endocannabinoid system is a major regulatory system and helps to maintain the body’s physiological balance. Endocannabinoid receptors are found throughout the body and in the brain.
According to Dr. Mechoulam, “The activity of these two endocannabinoids [anandamide and 2-AG] is very large. There are more cannabinoid receptors in the brain than any other receptor known. These compounds are very important. They aren’t formed and then wait for something to happen to activate them; they are formed when and where needed, and then they activate the receptors.
There are many groups throughout the world discovering many types of effects caused by these endogenous cannabinoids. In a recent review, two eminent scientists at the NIH [National Institutes of Health] published that the endocannabinoid system is involved in essentially all human disease. This is a very strong statement, but it seems to be correct. Today we know that the endocannabinoid system (the receptors, the endocannabinoids, the enzymes that form and break down the endocannabinoids) are involved in many physiological reactions, and therefore in many disease states.” 2
1. Moore, Melissa. How the Endocannabinoid System was Discovered. Accessed on 8/9/20 at https://www.labroots.com/trending/cannabis-sciences/8456/endocannabinoid-system-discovered#:~:text=In%201992%2C%20at%20the%20Hebrew,Devane%20discovered%20the%20endocannabinoid%20anandamide.
2. Bialer, Meir, from an interview with Dr. Raphael Mechoulam at the 13th European Congress on Epileptology, held in Vienna in August 2018. Raphael Mechoulam and the history of cannabis research. Epigraph Vol. 21 Issue 1, Winter 2019. Accessed at https://www.ilae.org/journals/epigraph/epigraph-vol-21-issue-1-winter-2019/raphael-mechoulam-and-the-history-of-cannabis-research.
How do topical CBD products work?
There is a growing body of scientific literature that has demonstrated that CBD can be absorbed through the skin and enter the blood this way.1 The scientific literature refers to this as transdermal absorption. Typically it takes at least several hours for the CBD to be measurable in the blood when applied topically. There are also now scientific articles substantiating that CBD can relieve “spot” pain by applying it to the skin directly over painful joints and muscles2 but the specific mechanism for this or why it only takes a few minutes for the CBD to work has not yet been identified.
1. Hammell DC, Zhang LP, Ma F, et al. Transdermal cannabidiol reduces inflammation and pain-related behaviours in a rat model of arthritis. Eur J Pain. 2016;20(6):936-948. doi:10.1002/ejp.818
2. Nitecka-Buchta A, Nowak-Wachol A, Wachol K, et al. Myorelaxant Effect of Transdermal Cannabidiol Application in Patients with TMD: A Randomized, Double-Blind Trial. J Clin Med. 2019;8(11):1886. Published 2019 Nov 6. doi:10.3390/jcm8111886
Are hemp oil and hemp distillate the same thing?
Hemp oil and hemp distillate are very different. Hemp oil is made from hemp seeds. It doesn’t contain CBD or any other cannabinoids. Hemp seeds can be eaten as seeds or ground into meal. Hemp milk is made hemp seeds. Hemp seed oil does contain some antioxidants and the the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha linolenic acid, and is reasonably healthy food. When buying hemp products, don’t pay hemp distillate prices for hemp oil products!
Hemp distillate is made extracting the resin from unpollinated hemp flowers or, to much lesser extent, the leaves and stalks of plant.
What does full-spectrum hemp distillate mean?
Lightly refined CBD hemp distilate is called “full-spectrum.” It contains much of the hemp plant’s original content of not only CBD but its other cannabinoids and terpenes which are also thought to have valuable effects. For this reason, full-spectrum hemp distillate may be more effective than the more refined broad-spectrum CBD hemp distillate.
How is CBD extracted from hemp plants?
Hemp processing is a really interesting and evolving science. Essentially, the hemp resins are first dissolved and then distilled, hence the term “distillate.” In processing, certain undesirable components, such as plant matter and plant waxes, are removed.
After winterizing, the solution is distilled to separate out the “the good stuff” (the CBD, the other cannabinoids, and the terpenes) from the slurry. Distillation uses the principal that different compounds will turn into gasses at different temperatures. In distillation, a solution is boiled in a vat connected to a set of tubes. As the solution heats up, the different compounds turn into gasses at different temperatures, which cause them to go into different tubes. Each tube connects at the other end to its own vat. The tubes are chilled near their vats so that each gas condenses back into a liquid. Depending on what’s being distilled, some solids may be left behind in the original vat. These may be used or discarded depending on what’s left behind.
For hemp slurries, the solvent, in this case ethanol, turns into a gas at a different temperature than the rest of the solution and goes into its own tube. Because CBD, the other cannabinoids, and terpenes are chemically similar, they turn into a gas at roughly the same temperature and go into their own tube. The chilled contents of this tube are the full-spectrum hemp distillate.
Some hemp processors may continue to refine the hemp distillate into what’s typically called broad-spectrum hemp distillate. CBD can also be completely separated out into a powder known as CBD isolate.
The hemp plant matter left behind in the original vat makes a terrific and ecologically sound food for cows and other farm animals. Also, separating out the ethanol from the cannabinoids means it can be recycled and reused. Just as importantly it means that there is absolutely no alcohol in the hemp distillate.
Full-spectrum hemp distillate is honey-colored and extremely thick. Chemically it’s classified as a terpenoid in the same chemical family as terpentine although it smells nothing like it. It has a warm fragrance, some say a bit like hay. Because Alchemy Science™ products contain so much full-spectrum hemp distillate, you’ll smell its fragrance each time you use it.