There’s so much information, and an almost equal amount of misinformation on hemp oil versus CBD oil. Some say that CBD oil isn’t extracted from hemp at all, while others say that the hemp plant is the only real source of CBD. Still others say that marijuana is the same as hemp. Who is right, and who is wrong?

Hemp oil versus CBD oil, which is the real thing, and where does it come from?

Not all hemp oil is CBD oil, but CBD oil is extracted from the hemp plant. Confused? You can walk into a health food shop and buy hemp oil that’s intended for cooking and making dressings for food. It comes from hemp, but it isn’t high in CBD. It’s a cold-pressed oil from the seeds of the plant, and it’s very tasty on salads, but if you’re looking for CBD oil, it doesn’t fit the bill. It will liven up your cooking though!.

CBD oil is obtained through an extraction process from the whole Hemp plant, the resulting oil will be high in CBD. Just how high in this valuable compound it is depends on the strain of hemp plant that was chosen for making the extract. This oil would probably not be used in cooking, but in much smaller volumes.

 

Why do people say CBD oil doesn’t come from hemp?

Some of the most heated debates I have seen have been among those who maintain that CBD oil doesn’t come from hemp, but from cannabis or from marijuana with a high CBD content. To understand this, we have to recognize that hemp and cannabis actually belong to the same genus and species of plant. In this context, it would be fair to say that hemp is cannabis.

So what makes hemp… well… hemp, rather than marijuana? The difference is chemical rather than botanical. And since the term “hemp” is really a common name for a type of cannabis, and common names are by their very nature unscientific, we could argue this all day.

To settle the debate, we can turn to the world of agriculture, in which hemp is defined as a cannabis plant that contains mainly CBD and less than a certain amount of THC. Just how much THC is allowed before a plant is no longer called hemp differs according to countries’ regulations. Marijuana could, indeed, be used for all the same things that hemp is used for, but owing to its relatively (to very) high THC content, it remains controversial. The more THC a cannabis plant has, the higher one gets from using it, and the less room there is for CBD, the cannabinoid that doesn’t make you high at all.

 

Hemp oil versus CBD oil: how do you know what to choose?

If it says “hemp oil” on the bottle, it probably doesn’t contain a lot of CBD. But CBD oil from hemp is widely used for its health benefits. When trying to settle the hemp oil versus CBD oil debate for yourself, always look at the percentage of CBD that is present in the oil. If you want CBD rather than a delicious culinary oil, the more CBD in your product, the better!