How Long Does CBD Stay in Your System?
Before you use a supplement, it’s a good idea to know how long you can expect it to remain in your system. If you ever decide to stop using it or if you’re directed to stop taking it, understanding how long it takes the supplement to leave your body will allow you to adequately prepare yourself.
Suppose you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, directed to stop using CBD before starting a new medication, or planning to undergo a surgical procedure that requires you to stop using certain supplements. In that case, it’s essential to give your body enough time to process residual CBD from your system.
Many factors affect how long CBD will stay in your system. If you’re curious about using CBD, you should know about its duration and metabolism before you start.
What Affects How Long CBD Stays in Your System?
CBD will stay in your system for different amounts of time, depending on how much CBD you use and how often you use it. If you had one 5 mg CBD gummy two days ago, the chances are high that the CBD is already completely out of your system. However, if you regularly use CBD, it will take longer for your body to eliminate all of its metabolites.
The Amount of CBD You Use
If you’re using minimal amounts of CBD, your body will have less CBD to process. When it has less CBD to process, it can do so more efficiently. If the dose you used was small and you don’t use CBD on a daily basis, detectable levels of CBD will leave your body in a shorter period of time.
How Often You Use CBD
CBD, like all cannabinoids, is fat-soluble. This means your body uses fat to digest and use CBD. Whatever it doesn’t use is stored in your body fat, where it will slowly melt away over time. If you use CBD daily, you’re likely storing a lot of CBD metabolites in your body fat regardless of your weight or activity level.
There’s nothing you can do to cause your body to release these metabolites faster. You can’t control where they’re stored and where your body chooses to draw energy from. It may take a long time for a regular user’s body to eliminate all detectable levels of CBD metabolites in their urine.
How Long Do the Effects of CBD Last?
The effects of CBD can last anywhere from two to eight hours. It all depends on your metabolism, tolerance, and the form of CBD you used. Fast-acting products like CBD oil usually wear off around the six-hour mark.
Products like CBD gummies will produce a continuous and mild stream of effects as your body continues to digest them. These effects will usually last between four and eight hours.
CBD also offers cumulative effects and benefits. If you use CBD daily for about 30 days, you may notice a continuous stream of broad improvements to your overall wellness that you can maintain with consistent use.
How Long Does CBD Stay in Your System?
The half-life of CBD products is about 32 hours. If you use a tiny amount of CBD once, the CBD will likely leave your system within two days. If you use CBD occasionally, it will likely leave your system within five days. If you use CBD regularly, it can take about three weeks to fully leave your system.
If it’s very important that you don’t have any trace of CBD or THC in your system, it’s best to operate under the assumption that it will take the maximum amount of time for your body to clear itself of detectable CBD. Occasional users should wait at least one week, and frequent CBD users should wait at least one month.
Is CBD Legal?
If you have CBD in your system and you’re worried about potential consequences, don’t panic.
Since the 2018 Farm Bill, CBD has technically been federally legalized if it’s derived from hemp plants. There are a few exceptions, however. Some states only allow CBD products that contain absolutely no detectable levels of THC, or > 0.3 percent THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which can be an issue for hemp-derived CBD products.
Although CBD’s federal status is clear, states can make their own laws regarding CBD products. A few states restrict the sale and use of CBD products due to THC concerns. Idaho, South Dakota, and Nebraska restrict all CBD products containing detectable THC levels. This significantly limits the CBD market in those states, but it doesn’t completely eliminate it.
Before you purchase hemp-derived CBD, it’s best to check your local laws for THC threshold limits, as they may vary from state to state.
Do Drug Tests Check for CBD?
Depending on the company and the state, drug tests don’t check for CBD. It would be the equivalent of drug testing for melatonin or probiotics. CBD is held in the same regard as any other supplement, and drug tests don’t include panels to verify its presence in urine.
Drug tests are designed to look for THC. CBD and THC are fundamentally different. CBD is the cannabinoid that relaxes you, and THC is the cannabinoid that gets you high. THC is federally regarded as a controlled substance and is illegal in states that don’t have active recreational cannabis laws.
All hemp-derived CBD products technically contain THC.
Full-spectrum CBD products contain some THC, but usually at low quantities of 0.3% or less. This isn’t enough THC to cause a high, but cumulatively, it may be enough THC to cause a false positive for cannabis use on a sensitive drug test.
Broad-spectrum CBD products are CBD products where manufacturers use special processes to remove all detectable levels of THC from the finished product. However, even still, there’s no guarantee that cumulative use won’t cause detectable THC levels in your urine.
CBD isolate products are hemp derivatives where every other part of the hemp extract has been separated from the CBD. In theory, these products shouldn’t trigger a false positive on a drug test, but the possibility cannot be ruled out. If you’re in a situation where any amount of THC in your body could pose consequences, it’s best to avoid hemp-derived CBD products entirely.
What if I Used Hemp CBD and Need To Take a Drug Test?
If you’ve used hemp-derived CBD and need to participate in a drug test very soon, the best strategy is to get ahead. If you’re honest with the person administering the test, tell them that you regularly use legal CBD products that may cause a false positive for cannabis use.
It may not affect the outcome, but opening up about the situation before you take the urine test is better than attempting to mitigate the situation afterward. Since hemp-derived CBD products have seen a surge in popularity, the chances are good that the person administering the test or reviewing the results has encountered a similar situation.
If the test doesn’t show THC, you have nothing to worry about. If it does, your honesty before the test may affect how the recipient of the results interprets them. It won’t seem like you’re trying to make excuses or justify your test results if you’re open from the very beginning.
Is There CBD Without THC?
Almost all CBD is derived from hemp, and because hemp naturally contains THC, it’s impossible to guarantee that the resulting extract can be processed to be completely free from THC. The only way to ascertain that a CBD product won’t contain any THC is to make that CBD product from an alternative source.
That’s where oranges become invaluable. Oranges contain aromatic compounds called terpenes, just like hemp plants do.
Peels uses a proprietary process called cyclic terpene assembly. This process converts the terpenes in orange peels into bioidentical CBD. Your body can’t tell the difference between orange-derived CBD and hemp-derived CBD.
Best of all, oranges don’t produce THC. We don’t use our special process to make THC. Therefore, Peels will always be completely THC free. You’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of CBD with the peace of mind that comes from knowing there is no THC in your body.
This means that athletes who adhere to World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines can use Peels CBD without fear of compromising their test results. They’re getting everything they can use to promote post-workout recovery without the things they can’t use.
Add Peels to Your Ritual
Many people are more comfortable knowing that their CBD doesn’t contain any THC. They won’t run into any potential obstacles or problems that may occur due to using a product that contains THC.
If you can safely use CBD, you don’t need to worry about how long it stays in your system. In fact, you’ll maximize its potential holistic wellness benefits by allowing the CBD to accumulate within your system. Make Peels fresh-squeezed CBD a part of your wellness ritual.
Sources:
Mechanisms of Action and Pharmacokinetics of Cannabis | The Permanente Journal
The CBD Legal States 2022 | World Population Review