Written by Rule One – Know What You Have
Yesterday, an old friend from the Epilepsy community reached out with a question, “Mike, how in the world does a person figure out what percent of CBD is in these tinctures that are online? One that I want says 99% pure but the label also says 500 milligrams in a 1-ounce bottle. It’s confusing, how much CBD is really in there?”
Right away "Not 99% and Not that much" was my answer - but why??
Very quickly I could see that my friend was about to be deceived by a marketing tactic that’s extremely unscrupulous. There are several (It’s safe to say 100’s if not 1,000’s) of companies that use CBD Isolate from the Industrial Hemp plant. Some are very up and up business people that have awesome intentions with products that help people. Some simply are not. Some make claims their product will cure everything, others are realistic about what Cannabidiol can or will do for people that make it their choice. I have no qualms with people doing business as it’s the way of the world, but I have a big problem with how some marketing approaches make people think they’re buying a pure product.
Sure, the CBD itself is 99% pure in the product my friend was inquiring about. It, like many, contains 500 mg or 1/2 ml (1 ml = 1,000 mg) of ‘pure’ CBD in a total solution of one fluid ounce or 30ml. That makes it a 1/60th or less than 2% CBD – a product that I would not give to anyone representing it to be a ‘medicinal cannabis’ solution that would heal or help much of anything other than the seller’s pocketbook. That doesn’t stop some salespeople to deploy those types of tactics.
I don’t believe that all or even most company owners or dispensary owners are aware employees or distributors are doing this. I’m including dispensaries because recently a compassion provider not familiar with cannabidiol bought was buying a product with only 300 mg of CBD in 2 fluid ounces of vegetable glycerin for over $75.00 – .5% or 1/2 of 1% CBD – literally trace amounts.
A person could theoretically eat raw high CBD strain cannabis and gain much better health than by paying for and ingesting products with these crazy low CBD percentages. The fact that dispensaries carry items such as that shocked me, to say the least. The fact that a compassion grower that gives away CBD to his patients bought it thinking he was giving his people really good stuff literally makes me irritated beyond belief. Cancer patients trying to shrink tumors by adding CBD to their Cannabis Oil protocols ended up getting that product until I had to break the news. It was very hard as he had sent it for Genevieve to try out. A kind gesture from a very giving person. I felt horrible telling him what I discovered but I had to as I knew he would tell others.
Rule two: Gain Knowledge and protect yourself!
Ask these questions:
- How many milligrams of CBD is in it?
- How many ML’s are in the entire solution?
Your answer comes very simple once you know the answer to those two simple questions. If someone trying to sell you something does not know the answers or doesn’t give them to you there’s obviously something to hide and I would not purchase it. 1000 milligrams = one milliliter or ml. One fluid Ounce has 30 MLS. 30 x 1,000 = 30,000 milligrams or mg’s per fluid ounce. If you only have 500 in 30,000 right away that tells you the numbers are low. We all need to learn this information in order to read a label and know what we’re getting. In this market with so many products, it makes your head spin it’s easy to find something that looks good but when you do the math you find out you’re getting a very oiled-down product with very little medicinal cannabis, or a single cannabinoid in this case, in it.
RULE Three – Learn the CBD Tincture Math!
My friend asked about his 500mg in One fluid ounce CBD product that claimed to be “99% pure.” A number of ML’s in his solution = one fluid ounce or 30 ML’s (which equals 30,000 mg’s). A number of Milligrams = 500. 500 divided by 30,000mg = .017 or 1.7%. Way too low to even consider purchasing.
Let’s try 1000 mg’s in two fluid ounces, for some reason I’m seeing this a lot lately. 1000 mg divided by 60,000 mg ( 2 fl oz is 60ml or 60,000mg) divided by 1000 mg = 0.17 or 1.7% Are you catching on yet? Often a product like this can cost over 150.00. Why? Because consumers pay for it not knowing the low percentage.
Let’s try another popular item I’ve seen with a price tag of over $300.00. A whopping 5 fl. oz with 2500 mg of CBD. This is getting easier. There’s 2500 mg’s in a total of 150,000 mg ( 5 fl oz is 150ML or 150,000mg). Once again the mathematical equation is to take the number of milligrams of CBD itself and divide that into the total volume of the bottle. 2,500 divided by 150,000 = 0.16 or 1.6% The industry standard is obviously slipping from the days of 12, 18, and 20 plus percent products as the norm.
There are many products I’ve seen with 2,500 mg in 2 fl oz. – So, 2,500 divided by 60,000 = 0.042 or 4.2% Once again that’s under 5% total CBD.
1000mg in 10ml 1,000 divided by 10,000 = 10% CBD, now we’re getting into the realm of what I would use or would concur, at the right price, my friends or those I know should. The problem is simple… finding it reasonably priced. Many on fixed incomes don’t have several hundred to spend monthly.
Once you get this math down it becomes a matter of finding out how much. Since most CBD-only products are very clear about the number of milligrams it’s easy to figure out the percentage. But it’s that “99% Pure” that I find to be misleading. The Isolate used to make the product was true that pure but the product itself is not. I can not count the literal hundreds, if not thousands of times across social media realms some unknowing salesman accidentally wandered across me attempting to debate the purity of a product they did not even know.
If a salesman can’t compute the math on a CBD-only product to give you a simple percentage when attempting to sell it to you in a dispensary or elsewhere, there’s definitely something to hide. If that’s the case in this buyer beware market caution should be exercised at its very highest level. In other words, find something you can trust.
I’ve found there’s a rather large market of people out there shopping for CBD-only products due to their specific need and desire for only that single cannabinoid. Some do not want to feel any effects and others are not allowed to have THC in their body but CBD is accepted by athletes and drivers. This has created a big market for these products – so be alert when shopping and don’t fall for the 99% pure thinking that the product is that unless you’re buying the actual isolate itself, which is generally close to that and is a crystalline or crystallized looking generally whitish or clear substance. Often I get asked where to go for really good CBD that’s reasonable. Just like with anything else I believe quality likely isn’t going to come ‘cheap’ but that doesn’t mean it can’t come inexpensive.
Mike Robinson, Medicinal Cannabis Patient and Director of Communications, The American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine
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