Does CBD affect a drug test?

Updated on April 10, 2020

The use of CBD is on the rise. People have started to wake up to the fact that CBD can help with a host of health conditions. It can be used to combat pain and alleviate depression and anxiety. Some people also use CBD as an ingredient in topical products to fight acne and inflammation. 

There are a lot of other ways CBD can benefit your health. However, many people are still iffy about CBD use as it is derived from the cannabis plant. While hemp (cannabis with little to no THC content) is technically legal across the US, the fact that CBD can also be derived from marijuana (cannabis with high THC content) is preventing it from being a universally-accepted substance. 

CBD is one of the two main compounds found in cannabis plants. THC is the other. When people talk about the ‘high’ from cannabis, they are talking about the impact that THC has on their system. CBD does not have the same impact. CBD will not impair you in any way. In fact, other than its health benefits, you wouldn’t really know that you have consumed CBD. Other people certainly wouldn’t be able to tell.

However, since CBD does come from cannabis, it leaves many people wondering whether it can have an impact on a drug test. This also explains why a lot of CBD users tend to ask the question: How long is CBD in my body? If you want to know when to stop consuming CBD if you’d rather not have it show up on a drug test, you’ve come to the right place!

Will CBD show up on a drug test?

Generally speaking, CBD alone will not trigger a positive drug test. Since CBD does not give a ‘high’, most tests carried out by employers or law enforcement agencies will not detect it. This is not to say that there are no tests that detect CBD. There are. It’s just that you are unlikely to encounter one because there is literally no need for an employer or authority agency to be looking for it. As we said previously, CBD does not cause any impairment. It doesn’t really matter if you are consuming it as it will not impact your work.

That being said, you aren’t completely in the clear when you take a drug test. Some CBD products on the market may have small amounts of THC in them. This will flag as a positive on any test you take. The THC may not even be listed on the product packaging. Outside of a few exceptions, THC tends to get into CBD products due to cross-contamination or poor extraction processes. It will never be in high enough quantities to give you a high, but it can certainly be in large enough quantities to impact a drug test.

It is impossible to completely eliminate the risk of THC contaminating your CBD products. However, there are precautions you can take that will reduce the risk drastically. For example, you should look for products labeled as ‘Broad-Spectrum CBD’ or ‘CBD Isolate’. The latter should have the lowest risk of THC cross-contamination. This is because it is often produced from hemp plants, which are notorious for their low THC concentrations. In the rare case that THC still manages to cross-contaminate the product, it is unlikely that it will be in high enough quantities to have an effect on a drug test.

How long is CBD in my body?

While CBD will not impact a drug test, a lot of people are still asking the question ‘how long is CBD with me?’. The answer is, it depends. Thus far, very little research has been carried out on CBD, but the research that has been done seems to indicate that CBD will disappear from the system rather quickly. Even if you consume larger quantities of CBD, it is unlikely that it would ever take longer than a week to clear from your system. In most ‘home dosages’, CBD will likely disappear from your system within a few hours to a couple of days after ingestion (assuming that you do not consume any more after that).

If there is THC content in your CBD products, then it is unlikely to be detectable beyond a day or so. This is due to the fact that THC is likely only present in trace amounts. The quantities will be so small that it would take a rather sophisticated test to detect THC presence. Your typical workplace drug test does not fall under ‘sophisticated tests’. In most cases, unless you are taking a test mere minutes after consuming cross-contaminated CBD, you should be fine.

Remember, you should always try to purchase the highest quality CBD you can afford. You will also want to ensure that it is marked as CBD Isolate. This is the only way to virtually eliminate the risk of you needing to deal with the inconveniences of a positive drug test.

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