CBD question and concerned

I am concerned about the subject. CVS and Walgreens will now carry this. It is expected to grow tenfold between now and 2025 to a 325 Billion dollar crop. I believe the article said Billion. Bottom line it will show up in pot luck lunches (sarcasm intended). People will unwittingly eat this stuff and it will show up and the government will have no choice but to address it. I pity the first 100 or so showing up hot on a test. Speaking purely of my military time, the government has absolute faith in their urine testing. If you get a positive test…you get charged. Period and the conviction percent is somewhere around 97 percent. Proving you did not smoke it or abuse the substance…will fall on each person. Kids are bringing this stuff to school in chips, snacks, gummy bears…we will get no choice in confronting this very soon.

CBD is a very small component of marijuana. It’s not the part that gets you high (THC) and it’s not likely to show up on a drug screen because those look for the metabolites of THC.

It’s also “snake oil” . . . Mostly harmless and useless . . .

1 Like

I think there are some important points to acknowledge:

  1. Growers of Industrial hemp cultivated under the 2018 Farm Bill have to be licensed and submit to inspections. They have to submit plans for their business. They have to submit product for testing and have a means for disposing of any crop which exceeds the 0.3% THC limit.
  2. It is legal to sell, transport, buy and possess the industrial hemp grown by licensed farmers, BUT the purchaser/user is well-advised to obtain product which has a laboratory-generated CoA listing the various cannabinoids and their % weight, as well as a lot number of the hemp, the lab name and other identifying information.
  3. Even when produced per regulations and meeting the THC limits, and even if the THC is analyzed as being 0%, NO GROWER OR LAB will guarantee that their product won’t cause a positive result for THC metabolites. They can’t. A very low result or 0% for %THC may just mean that it is below a detection limit and not absent.
  4. Users have to accept that risk. They may test positive.
  5. There is no way for a lab or employer to tell if a positive test result for THC comes from illegal marijuana or legal industrial hemp. An employer won’t be able to tell if you used one or the other. As a result, some employers may just fire someone for a positive THC result, and others might forgo THC tests altogether but keep tests for opiates and such.
  6. I have used no illegal drugs in the past 7 years. I did not buy or use any industrial hemp products until passage of the Farm Bill made it legal to do so. My response was to disclose the industrial hemp use on my SF86, state that I had CoAs for the product showing that it had met regulatory specifications, and to state that even though the description of the job I applied for said “no drug test”, I had quit using it and would be abstaining from further use until I knew what my (hopefully FUTURE) employer’s policy was. This seems to be the wisest course of action, IMO. I appreciate any input from the investigators.

Discussion is good. We all need remain current on this trend. The current issue of Consumer Reports has a major spread on it. According to the research they quote there is significant science backing it for reduced anxiety and pain management. This genie is now out of the bottle whether we like, support or think it doesn’t work. I am most concerned with it showing up in food at “pot” luck luncheons and similar. There has been a sea change in how states view all of it and this is normally brought on by recognizing the enormity of taxing it and making a lot of money. This is going to grow 10 fold over the next 5 years. Farmers will grow what they can sell and get profit from. According to CR, a good measure stop Opiod (SP?) use through CBD. I think this is positive and promising to communities wiped out on Opiods like West Virginia and the like.

Not according to the Veteran group that I am a part of. CBD is being used to treat many veterans suffering from PTSD with outstanding, documented, and verifiable results.

Rarely will there be an issue if one is prescribed something and it shows up. If a rogue doctor is prescribing items “way off label” meaning hard to justify it can cause a problem. My 80 year old mom uses it for nerve pain and swears by it. Right now, the fed government moving at the speed of bureaucracy is not yet accepting it as over the counter and innocent, even with CVS and Walgreen’s now selling it in the open. I think we will see major federal legislation within a year or 2 supporting it. In the meantime…I would be very careful about trying anything with CBD in it. Read the Consumer Report article. It is a very well done piece. But ensuring there are standards for acceptable THC levels remains the wild west for now.

1 Like

I know I found it helpful. I don’t have major or even significant anxiety, but I did have job stress that was causing issues at home sometimes, and the CBD knocked the edge off the stress without causing any kind of impairment.

NY state made it illegal for CBD to be added to food or drink as an adulterant, which I kind of support, just because it isn’t a regulated thing and people should be doing their own homework about it. And yeah, if anyone were to adulterate food at a BBQ or picnic and not tell the guests, that’s just bad manners. I doubt such a thing could cause a failed UA, but why chance it?

Hey Techy,
Don’t worry about it. Just be honest.

1 Like

FYI, I disclosed CBD use and stated on my SF86 that I would cease use until advised about the Fed’s position regarding it. I was advised today by person(s) processing my application that yes, under Federal law, it is still somehow considered illegal and was advised to continue not using it!

I don’t have to understand it, I just have to go by the rules.

Twenty years ago… maybe thirty… forty? ANY drug use would disqualify you from most IC jobs and would have complicated getting a clearance as a contractor. Eventually they realized that too many people were “experimenting” and they had to relent in order not to disqualify too many of the people they needed to hire.

Will this go the same way? I mean, if a person is not a fed, not cleared, but they live in Colorado and buy some stuff legally, and then apply for a clearance after a period of abstinence, what about that?

How will this affect the pool of applicants?

I think it’s great that the states can act as laboratories for recreational drug use policy, but when the Feds have a different set of rules, anyone (potentially) interested in Fed employment will just have to be aware of the consequences of not adhering to those rules. The confusion right now is thick regarding this non-psychotropic cannabinoid that seems legalized Federally but apparently is not, and I hope that the issue will be clarified soon.

I also hope that the IC will not relax its standards regarding drug use. I think the current standards are quite reasonable, especially given the adjudication guidelines. I have faith that there will always be enough people who can manage their affairs responsibly and make sound decisions, and who are interested in IC work.