CBD oil products may lead to positive drug tests. What does this mean for “legal” users?
Living in Colorado, the first state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis by smoking and by ingestion, there is a lot of lessons learned about the use and living with legal pot. I am not referring to driving down the freeway and seeing the person in the next lane over lighting up a doobie as he drives along at 70 miles per hour. I am talking about the more subtle repercussions of legal marijuana. What about those pesky drug tests required by some occupations? Can this new field of CBD oil based products produce positive drug tests? The most common line heard in conjunction with the CDB-oil market is that these products don’t contain THC (the active ingredient in marijuana). There is no way using CDB oil will result in a positive drug test. Well, after only a handful of years of legal grass, there is a study that suggests that yes it does.
So you have to ask yourself, how much would a failed drug test mess up my life currently and is it worth the risk? That is a question that only you can answer. No one can help. It will however clearly identify your priorities once and for all. Or maybe the study conducted by Johns Hopkins Medical school is incorrect, inaccurate or outright wrong.
Here are some highlights of the article.
>Small study concludes that caution is warranted for users of “high CBD, low THC” cannabis products
>In a study of six adults, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report evidence that a single vaping episode of cannabis that is similar in chemical composition to that found in legal hemp products could possibly result in positive results on urine drug screening tests commonly used by many employers and criminal justice or school systems.
> In a paper published Nov. 4 in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, the researchers report that two out of six study participants tested positive after vaping cannabis that contained 0.39 percent THC using urine testing methods that are consistent with testing frequently performed for employment-related or criminal justice-related urine drug testing programs.
> Though the cannabis used in this study does not currently meet the federal definition of hemp, the THC concentration of 0.39 percent exceeds federal regulation by just 0.09 percent. The US government defines hemp as any crop of cannabis containing 0.3 percent THC or less.
>“These results suggest that pure CBD, used once by itself, will not cause a positive drug test. It “does not take much THC exposure to trigger a positive test for some people.” There may be variation from person to person in drug metabolism and puffing behaviors such as inhalation depth, which might contribute to the breakdown or buildup of cannabinoids in the body, the researchers say.
> a Journal of American Medical Association study that 21 percent of CBD/hemp products sold on the Internet contained THC, even though it wasn’t listed on the product labels
> The team says they plan to repeat their studies using products that fall within the current federal hemp regulations with respect to THC content, and additionally study the impact of repeated CBD/hemp exposure on drug testing outcomes.
Is an n=2 enough to formulate a binding conclusion?
Can a life be wrecked because of this study with an n=2?
Absolutely yes it can. It may not be fair, it may not be comprehensive, but it is published and usable in a court of law where you will be fighting for your job.
I would recommend knowing the consequences before you partake and making decisions based on those consequences as it would seem that a positive result is possible from the materials that are supposedly THC free. It is a minefield that needs a good map to avoid blowing up your life.
The entire article can be found here and has many more details:
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