With many consumers looking for ways to stay calm, reduce anxiety, and improve sleep, CBD or Cannabidiol oil, has become an increasingly useful tool for individuals looking to promote a sense of relaxation and equanimity. However, much confusion still surrounds CBD’s legal status and how it’s different from Marijuana.

One of the primary and most important differences between CBD and Marijuana is that CBD does not have the same psychoactive effects on users. Although CBD does have calming and anxiety-reducing properties, it does not contain THC. To be more precise, CBD oil contains such small, trace amounts of THC that it will not get a user high.

Both CBD and Marijuana interact with the endocannabinoid system of the user. However, they do so in very different ways. Due to its chemical structure, CBD does not get the user high, nor does it produce the typical feelings of euphoria or sedation associated with Marijuana. However, there is some evidence to suggest that CBD can be helpful for pain relief and to help alleviate anxiety.

While CBD can be extracted from a Marijuana plant, it can be extracted from other sources, such as industrial hemp as well. While CBD can be produced from industrial hemp, it should not be confused with hemp seed oil. Hemp seed oil is produced by cold-pressing hemp seeds, while CBD oil is produced using the Cannabis or Hemp plant itself.

The process by which CBD is produced can vary, but it involves extracting the terpenes, a substance similar to essential oil, from the plant, and then distilling the terpenes.

The legal status of CBD, Marijuana, and hemp seed oil are all separate and distinct issues. Marijuana remains federally illegal but has been legalized by some states in the US. Federal US law forbids CBD oil that contains more than 0.3 percent THC, which is the compound in Marijuana that induces the psychoactive effects associated with users “getting high.” However, the CBD extracted from hemp often contains less than 0.3 percent THC and is therefore legal.

Finally, hemp seed oil has never been illegal in the US and remains completely legal to this day. Because the legal status of the hemp seed oil is so much clearer and easier to understand than that of CBD oil or Marijuana, many consumers have begun consuming it instead.

Because CBD is legal in the US and Marijuana is still federally illegal, CBD products are regulated and tracked by the government. Some experts predict that CBD sales could approach $3.8 billion in 2023. Since CBD products are federally regulated, government institutions and market experts will continue to track its sales metrics and other data.

As this article by the Washington Post explains, there is every reason to believe that CBD sales will continue to grow in the coming years.

Marijuana sales, on the other hand, are not reported to the government and are therefore much more difficult to keep track of. The increased ability of the government to collect relevant data when a substance is made legal has long been an argument opponents of the war on drugs have used to suggest that Marijuana should be made legal.

For people interested in learning more about the legal status of both CBD and Marijuana in their area, it can sometimes be helpful to attend local events to speak to CBD enthusiasts and experts. Keeping up with a good source of local events can be useful for this purpose.

Hemp seed oil provides its own set of beneficial properties to users, but it should not be confused with CBD oil or Marijuana. The hemp seed oil contains healthy polyunsaturated fats and essential fatty acids. It boasts its own set of restorative, nutritional, and antioxidant properties that are quite distinct from Marijuana and CBD oil.

Unlike hemp seed oil, CBD oil has a calming effect on the user’s mental state, and there is some reason to believe that it can help relieve some of the symptoms of a variety of different conditions as a result. Although more studies and research must be conducted before CBD oil can be assumed to cure any singular medical condition, early research suggests that it could help users struggling from anxiety-induced insomnia get to sleep.

Other studies suggest there could be a reason to suspect that it could help deal more effectively with stress caused by external factors. Proponents of CBD claim that it could have positive effects when taken by users suffering from conditions ranging from Autism, to Alzheimer’s to Cancer, to Multiple Sclerosis, as this Daily CBD Mag article notes.

Some users have derived benefits from microdosing CBD oil. Microdosing refers to the practice of taking extremely small doses of CBD over an extended period. While some users looking to tap into CBD’s pain-relieving properties prefer larger doses, microdosing could well be an effective way for users to enjoy some of its other beneficial qualities.

Some of these other benefits could include everything from enhancing users’ mood, to boosting cognitive performance, to reducing inflammation. This is another factor that differentiates CBD oil from Marijuana. While administering CBD through microdosing is quite common, doing so with Marijuana is a less popular practice among Marijuana users.

For people interested in learning more about some of the health claims and the very real benefits of CBD, this article by the New York Times could be a good resource.

There are also some differences in which parts of a Cannabis plant are used when consuming CBD versus Marijuana. CBD oil is produced by processing a hemp or Marijuana plant into an oil. Marijuana, on the other hand, when used recreationally or medically typically involves using the whole of the plant or part of it in some form directly, whether it’s dehydrated, or processed in some other way.

Many hemp farmers look at CBD oil as a byproduct of growing hemp for other purposes or produce different kinds of hemp products that are unrelated to CBD. Some of these farmers sell leftover hemp biomass to other companies that use it to extract CBD oil, as this Kyro article notes.

To sum up, there are many differences between CBD and Marijuana. Included among these differences are their effects on the users, how they are produced, and their legal status  It’s important to be aware of these differences and to avoid confusing the two substances.