CBD, The Law, and You

If you’ve considered buying CBD-infused products for yourself or your pets, you’ve probably done at least a little bit of research online to make sure you don’t wind up on the wrong side of the law, which thankfully is becoming easier and easier to do each day! 

Unfortunately, that research probably left you with more questions than answers, because there’s a lot of bad and misinformation out there, and much of it is contradictory.

The people who tend to deal in the bad information are product vendors, who most likely know the truth, but want to selectively tell it as a form of marketing.Most of the purveyors of bad information are simply parroting marketing memes, and haven’t bothered to research deeply into the issue.

We have, and the truth is a lot more complicated than you might think.

First and foremost, let’s start by saying that in all states where medical marijuana is legal, CBD-infused products are fine.The tricky part is trying to figure out what’s legal and not in the rest of the states.

To answer that, the first thing you understand is that importing hemp and hemp-derived products from other countries is legal.Actually growing hemp as a commercial crop in the United States is not.This is the first line of defense most CBD product vendors will use, claiming that if their product is made by stuff imported legally, then it must be legal, as long as it contains less than 0.3% THC.

Unfortunately, that’s not quite accurate. Here’s what the DEA has to say about it:

“The term ‘marihuana’ means all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or resins; but shall not include the mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination.”

By definition, this means that products containing CBD, which are derived from Cannabis sativa L., are legal.Sorry, but there’s just no wiggling out of, or around it.

Now, having said that, there is some good news.CBD and the products made from it are not psychoactive. They don’t have any side effects.In fact, they don’t have any negative impacts at all, so it is unlikely in the extreme that you’re going to see armed DEA agents suddenly conducting raids against shops that sell these kinds of products. It’s also virtually inconceivable that they’re going to go door to door to arrest people using a substance that cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be termed a “drug". 

Having said that, while the risk is very low, it’s’ also not zero if you live in a state where marijuana is not legal, and you should know that going in.