16 CBD Statistics and Facts that Will Surprise You

UPDATED ON May 7, 2020

Cannabidiol (CBD) use is growing rapidly worldwide and is just now starting to be heavily researched. As with almost any new natural remedy, there is a lot of false information being spread about its history and what it’s capable of on all extremes. We are here collect any proven facts and statistics about CBD that we can find.

Skip Ahead

  1. CBD Statistics
  2. Brief History of CBD
  3. CBD Facts

CBD Statistics

1. How many types of cannabinoids are there in the Cannabis plant?
There are 113 different cannabinoids identified at this time. The two most well known are THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol).

2. How many cannabinoid receptors are there?
Scientists have identified two which are called CB1 and CBD2. There is research underway to try to identify others. They serve very important roles in how our cells respond to cannabinoids.

3. How much THC is in any cannabinoid receptors are there?
In a 2018 study, 62% of participants that use CBD were doing so to treat a medical condition with only 4% saying that CBD was working “not very well.”

4. What is the elimination half-life of CBD in the body?
The time it takes for half of CBD to be removed from the body through biological processes is 18-32 hours.

5. What is the bioavailability or level of absorption of CBD?
Oral bioavailability of CBD is 13-19%. Bioavailability through vaping and other inhalation methods is 11-45%.

6. How accurate is the labeling of the amount of THC in CBD products?
In 2017, 84 products were sampled and the tests concluded that 21% of products had more THC in them than labeled. There was enough THC present to possibly impair or intoxicate.

7. How accurate is the labeling of the amount of CBD on CBD products?
In the same study above, only 31% of products tested were labeled with an accurate amount of CBD. Of all product types tested, vape liquid CBD was found to be the least accurate with only 12.5% of products being labeled properly.

8. How much is the CBD market expected to grow?
The CBD market was $591 million in 2018. Brightfield group expects the market to grow to $22 billion by 2022. Hemp Business Journal expects the market to grow at a slower rate by tripling from 2017 to 2022.

9. How much THC and CBD is there in illegal marijuana?
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) evaluated 39,000 samples and found that in 2014 the average amount of CBD is 0.15% and the amount of THC is 12%.

10. Has the amount of THC and CBD in marijuana changed over time?
In that same study by the DEA, they found that the average THC to CBD ratio changed from 14 to 1 in 1995 to 80 to 1 in 2014.

CBD Facts

11. CBD is non-intoxicating. As Dr. Ethan B. Russo says, “CBD should be preferably labeled as ‘non-intoxicating’, and lacking associated reinforcement, craving, compulsive use, etc., that would indicate a significant drug abuse liability.”

12. CBD has been tested in open and placebo-controlled trials. Wide doses of up to 1500 mg/day showed no major changes to vitals, mood or central nervous system.

13. Industrial hemp is sourced from the cannabis sativa plant and is classified by law as containing less than 0.3 percent of THC.

14. Marijuana contains 0.3 percent or more of THC.

15. The 2018 Farm Bill removed industrial hemp from the Schedule 1 drug list

16. CBD is not legal in all 50 states. Despite the Farm Bill passing, states have different laws at this time and not all processes of CBD extraction are legal.

Brief History of CBD

While many people believe that CBD has only been around for a few years, the history of CBD finds its roots about 60 years ago and has been studied ever since.

1906: The US Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act which required accurate labels on drugs, including cannabis sativa.

1937: The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was the first national regulation of cannabis in the United States.

1940: CBD was first extracted successfully from the cannabis plant by the chemist Roger Adams of Harvard University.

1942: THC was first extracted from cannabis by Loewe, Wollner, Matchett, and Levine.

1963: CBD was first isolated from cannabis in Raphael Mechoulam’s laboratory.

1965: Both CBD and THC were first synthesized from cannabis.

1978: Mechoulam and Carlini used CBD in a double-blind setting to prove effective use for convulsions.

1988: Cannabinoid receptors were proven to exist by Allyn Howlett.

November 5, 1996: Proposition 215 was passed in California law to allow medical cannabis use.

December 20, 2018: The Farm Bill was signed into law. This federally legalizes the production of industrial hemp for uses including the extraction of CBD.

Sources

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1760722/
  2. https://www.brightfieldgroup.com/post/hemp-cbd-market-to-reach-22-billion-by-2022
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4707667/
  4. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/mjtaxact.htm
  5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/351429
  6. https://www.livescience.com/53644-marijuana-is-stronger-now-than-20-years-ago.html
  7. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2661569
  8. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.2625
  9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6043845/
  10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315802003_Cannabidiol_Claims_and_Misconceptions_Trends_in_Pharmacological_Sciences_38_198-201_2017