Does CBD Oil Show In A Drug Test?

Will the CBD you take show up in a drug test? Let’s find out!

One of the most commonly asked questions related to CBD is: Does CBD oil show in a drug test?

It’s an important question to answer for anyone subject to drug tests who still wants to incorporate CBD into their daily health and wellness routine. Before answering this, we first need to understand CBD and how it interacts with our body.

In the following article, we’ll break down the following, including:

1. What Is CBD?
2. How Is CBD Oil Processed by Your Body?
3. How Is CBD Oil Made?
4. How Do Drug Tests Work and What Are They Looking For?
5. Does CBD Oil Show In A Drug Test?

What Is CBD?

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the two dominant cannabinoids found in the hemp plant. Unlike the other prevalent cannabinoid, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD is non-psychotropic and has no psychoactive effects. Despite the growing popularity of CBD, many users are still unaware of how it interacts with the body, which can lead to some confusion about its potential effects and how it will show up in drug tests.

How Is CBD Oil Processed By Your Body?

Inside us is a complicated nerve signaling system known as the Endocannabinoid System (ECS). Made up of a series of receptors, CB1 and CB2, it’s believed that the ECS is responsible for regulating several critical bodily functions, including sleep, mood, appetite, hormones, and reproduction.

Our bodies naturally produce two endocannabinoids, Anandamide (AE2) and 2-Arachidonoylglyerol (2-AG).

When you take CBD, either orally or as topical, CBD enters the bloodstream where the cannabinoid, rather than interacting directly with the CB1 and CB2 receptors like THC, influences them in another fundamental way. CBD can block enzymes that break down Anandamide, a naturally occurring endocannabinoid produced in the body.

How Is CBD Oil Made?

Almost all commercially made CBD oils in the United States are produced using CBD that was sourced from the hemp plant. Unlike marijuana, hemp contains only minuscule amounts of THC.

Hemp is defined under the 2018 US Farm Bill as cannabis plants that contain less than 0.5% THC. Over 0.5% THC, hemp plants are then considered marijuana.

After the hemp is grown, it is refined, and the CBD is extracted using a complicated extraction process before being added to CBD oil products.

How Do Drug Tests Work and What Are They Looking For?

There are a variety of different drug tests available commercially.

The most common type of drug test used by organizations is a simple saliva drug test or urine test. The saliva test involves placing a swap in your mouth; the swap is then added to a liquid carrier, and a drop of liquid is placed into the testing panel. Urine tests involve giving the tester a sample of your urine in a controlled and supervised environment to ensure the integrity of the test.

Less commonly used drug tests include hair and blood tests.

According to this article, drug tests are typically targeting the following substances:

• Alcohol
• Amphetamines
• Benzodiazepines
• Opiates
• Cocaine
• Cannabis

Drug tests are searching for the presence of the drug compound itself, along with metabolites that are left over after the drug is processed by your body. If the drug test identifies any of these metabolites or drug compounds at a predetermined level, the test will return a ‘positive’ result.

Does CBD Oil Show In A Drug Test?

While drug tests are searching for ‘cannabis,’ they are actively looking for THC compounds or metabolite traces from your body processing THC, not CBD. As we mentioned above, the two compounds are very different.

In theory, you could potentially fail a drug test by consuming a CBD product, which also contains trace amounts of THC, but the answer isn’t that straightforward. There are a variety of essential factors that we need to consider.

Firstly, there are two main types of CBD products, these include:

1. Full Spectrum CBD – Full spectrum CBD products have all the cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, and other compounds from the plant material.
2. CBD Isolate – CBD isolate products contain just CBD, with all other compounds, including cannabinoids removed.

Because of strict quality control and testing in the United States, large commercial manufacturers of CBD oils and supplements are pretty careful to stay below the federally mandated trace amounts of THC. Many of the large CBD companies also back up their claims with independent laboratory testing results, which are publicly available.

The trace amounts of THC in most commercially available CBD oil products in the United States are so small that they won’t trigger a positive test result. However, other factors such as the accuracy of the product testing, how much you take, and how you’re being drug tested can all play a role in the test result.

Does CBD Oil Show In A Drug Test? – Conclusion

As we mentioned above, the only 100% guaranteed way to avoid a positive drug test result is to avoid CBD oil, which has any trace amount of THC. However, the trace amounts of THC in commercially available CBD oils sold in the United States, especially those produced and sold by reputable CBD companies, are so low that they won’t register in most of the commonly used drug tests.

Another alternative is to use CBD oils that contain CBD isolate, not full spectrum CBD oil.

If you have any questions about CBD oil and drug testing or would like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us directly.