Does CBD show up on a drug test?
By now you’ve heard all about how CBD can change your life for the better. Your grandma, your neighbor, even your neighbors’ dog is on a CBD daily wellness plan. You can easily buy CBD online. There’s a reason hemp extracted cannabidiol oil is market is projected to be a $20 billion industry by 2024. In the United States alone.
You become curious, but hesitant.
Why wouldn’t you be, after all CBD comes from the cannabis plant.
One of your main concerns in starting your own cannabidiol journey is drug tests. More and more people are required to take a drug test for various reasons.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there, which is why at The CBD Haven we thought it was important we get into a bit more detail on a CBD drug test.
We want to give you as much information as we possibly can to ensure you can make an educated decision.
Will CBD oil fail a drug test, is not an easy question. There is a number of factors that can influence the result, one of them being your metabolism.
What makes this even more complicated is that one website says it will not show up, while another says CBD oil will cause a failed drug test.
Let’s take this down to the basic level.
The fact remains that hemp extracted cannabidiol oil can cause a failed drug test, but it’s not 100% guaranteed that it will.
Let’s start from the beginning.
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What is CBD?
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Types of CBD in the market?
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What is a drug test?
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Will CBD show up in a drug test?
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Can CBD make you fail a drug test?
Notice the subtle differences in the way these questions are formulated. The question itself can change the answer and we will explain why.
Before we do, let’s take a quick step back to the basics.
What is CBD?
It’s important to start with this question. Once you understand what CBD actually is, you will see how we came up with our answer about drug tests test for CBD.
CBD stands for cannabidiol, and it’s is one of over 100 cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. When people think of cannabis, they automatically assume marijuana, but that is not the case.
CBD is a compound that is found in the cannabis plant, while marijuana is a type of cannabis plant that contains many compounds and is high in THC content.
THC is what is widely known for its psychoactive properties and is what produces the high from smoking marijuana.
It’s important to note here that for the benefit of our discussion we are only talking about hemp extracted cannabidiol oil.
The cannabis plant has two main varieties: hemp and marijuana. The 2018 Farm Bill helped to legalize hemp on a federal level, and officially defined it as a cannabis plant with THC content of 0.3% or lower.
There’s a lot more to CBD than this. If you want to learn more, check out our What is CBD Blog.
Types of CBD in the market?
There are currently three main types of CBD in the market:
You might also hear about few other cannabinoids such as CBG, CBN and CBC, but we are only concentrating on CBD.
There are a couple differences in the spectrums. If you want to learn more head over to our CBD Spectrums Blog. We will mostly only concentrate on the THC content here as that is what important to a drug test.
Full Spectrum CBD contains all of the cannabinoids, flavonoids and terpenes found in the hemp plant.
That includes THC, up to 0.3% by dry weight. Make sure you are aware of that when purchasing your CBD oil. It is the most complete product out there, and the least processed.
Broad Spectrum CBD contains all of the cannabinoids, flavonoids and terpenes from the hemp plant, but has been processed one step further to remove THC.
In all fairness, there are minute traces of THC left in most of the Broad Spectrum products, and some brands even put so on their labels.
They state the oil can contain up to 0.05% THC. It’s an incredibly small amount.
Last, but certainly not least we have CBD Isolate. This product contains cannabidiol extract only. No additional cannabinoids, flavonoids or terpenes. Most quality CBD isolate oils contain 99% cannabidiol per bottle. That’s it. This means it contains 0.0% THC.
What is a drug test?
According to US National Library of Medicine:
“A drug test looks for the presence of one or more illegal or prescription drugs in your urine, blood, saliva, hair, or sweat. Urine testing is the most common type of drug screening. The drugs most often tested for include:
- Marijuana
- Opioids, such as heroin, codeine, oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone, and fentanyl
- Amphetamines, including methamphetamine
- Cocaine
- Steroids
- Barbiturates, such as phenobarbital and secobarbital
- Phencyclidine (PCP)”
To clarify the first point, it’s not really looking for marijuana, but rather THC in your system.
The purpose of a drug test is figure out whether or not an individual has taken certain drugs. They are generally used to screen for employment, sports, legal or forensic, and medicinal monitoring purposes.
Will CBD show up in a drug test?
Here’s where it gets tricky.
Does CBD show up in a drug test? Do drug tests test for CBD? Technically the answer is no. That’s only because a drug test was not designed to test for the substance cannabidiol.
Refer to the list above for examples of what these tests are designed to detect.
Can CBD make you fail a drug test?
Will CBD oil fail a drug test? Yes, it can.
How is that possible, if a drug test is not designed to detect CBD?
This is why we started with the basics.
If you refer back to our discussion on the CBD spectrums, you will notice that full spectrum CBD can contain up to 0.3% THC.
While that is an extremely small amount and will not produce any psychoactive side effects, it can build up in your body and show up on a drug test.
CBD does not show up on a drug test, because the tests are not designed to detect CBD. It detects THC, and is one of the primarily compounds that is always tested for.
This is why it’s important to do your research and make sure you pick the correct spectrum.
In the end, CBD itself will not cause you to fail a drug test, but CBD oil which can contain up to 0.3% of THC can.
Hopefully this helps to clarify the debate a bit. While technically it is a confusing question, the answer is really straight forward.