For more than 40 years, cultivating hemp was made illegal under the 1970 Controlled Substance Act. Back then, there was no legal differentiation between hemp and marijuana.
Almost four decades later, the 2018 Farm Bill allows hemp, which is now classified as cannabis sativa with less than 0.3% THC to be cultivated following strict guidelines. In essence, this has allowed the sale of CBD products to be sold on the market and cross state borders.
This has opened doors to a whole new market that hasn’t existed before. With limited time for scientific research, folks are jumping into the wild west of cannabis without a safety net. Since that’s the case, what is truly driving the hype behind CBD? and is it really worth your money?
Celebrity influence
Even though the use of CBD that contains less than 0.3% has been federally legalized, people were still hesitant to look into them due to the origins of the products’ close relationship with cannabis. While it’s certainly the masses will give the products a go, celebrities, and other influencers have, in a sense, de-stigmatized the industry.
When we’re talking about the likes of Kim Kardashian, Drake, and Tom Hanks, that’s millions of dollars worth of marketing for the industry. While some celebrities are strong advocates of CBD, some have gone as far as creating their own line of products.
While CBD gummies are a more enjoyable method, there are also vape oils, cleansers, tinctures, capsules, and many more forms of CBD in the market. It was only a matter of time before every Tom, Dick, and Harry is talking about it and social media only adds fuel to the fire.
Claims of benefits
From the benefits we hear around CBD oil, it’s easy to believe that it’s this magical herb that can treat almost everything. CBD has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to treat chronic pain. Not surprisingly, the beauty industry has taken advantage of this for new lines of acne treatment products.
While it is true that the CBD has a very promising future in pain therapy, researchers still believe that more studies and peer-reviewed papers need to be published. However, many agree that you stand little to lose if you use a high-quality product.
Illicit history
If there’s one thing we can’t deny, it is that CBD wouldn’t be mainstream if it wasn’t a sketchy topic in the past. People were serving prison time for growing cannabis less than a decade ago, and now we see CBD products everywhere in the market.
Naturally, people would want a piece of the next big thing. Maybe we’re in a CBD craze that would simmer down, but it seems that 26% of CBD users stocked up their CBD supply as they anticipated the COVID-19 pandemic will cause shortages in the supply chain. So, there is evidence to say that many users remain loyal to their products.
Is it worth your money?
Whether you’re willing to spend your hard-earned cash on CBD boils down to your perspectives of the product. But in our non-expert opinion, it’s completely worth it provided that you are purchasing from a manufacturer that has done third-party lab tests to certify the potency and ingredients of their products.
It’s not uncommon for manufacturers to make absurd claims and mislabel their ingredients. In fact, the FDA found that 44 of 147 CBD products tested were mislabelled. While underdosing is an issue, some products may also contain heavy metals that are deemed unsafe.
