A new study warns.

About 60% of CBD products tested in the lab also contain THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the pot chemical that causes intoxication, researchers report in the journal Drug and alcohol addiction.

Most products contain only trace amounts of THC, but that’s enough to build up in your body and cause you to fail a drug test, said lead researcher Shanna Babalonis, assistant professor of human science. behavior at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

Military personnel, professional and amateur athletes, and people involved in legal disputes such as child custody cases could find themselves in trouble through no fault of their own simply by using an over-the-counter CBD product, it said. she declared.

“THC is not allowed in the Olympics. It’s not allowed in many sports organizations. But athletes use CBD because it helps them recover and helps them with different facets of their training,” Babalonis said. . “So I think one of the main takeaways from this work is that the public needs to ask themselves if there’s THC in their CBD products.”

Cannabidiolor CBD, is a chemical compound in marijuana that doesn’t get you high, but has been touted to have a number of potential health benefits.

For this study, Babalonis and his colleagues purchased 80 different CBD products from online stores or stores in Kentucky. They subjected each product to nine analyzes to determine precisely if it contained THC.

They also tested Epidiolex, the only CBD product on the market that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Epidiolex is prescribed to help control epileptic seizures, and its manufacture is strictly regulated.

The researchers found that Epidiolex contained a barely detectable amount of THC, just 0.022 milligrams per milliliter.

“So we compared all other CBD products in this context,” Babalonis said. “That’s what we found in the FDA-approved product that went through very strict controls.”

They found that 52 of the 80 CBD products contained some amount of THC, and all but five contained higher levels of THC than Epidiolex.

“If a person does not have a tolerance to THC, these traces – which can build up in fat cells as the product is used over time – can have an effect on a person,” says Pat Aussem. , associate vice president of consumer clinical content development at the Partnership to End Addiction in New York City. She was not part of the study.

Some of the CBD products contained enough THC to potentially cause intoxication in some people, especially if they had no prior experience with pot, Babalonis said.

Eleven products had THC concentrations greater than 1 milligram per milliliter and one contained more than 2 milligrams per milliliter.

“It’s concerning because a lot of older people are taking CBD and taking a lot of other medications, and they might have high levels of THC in their product,” Babalonis said.

She couldn’t say why so many CBD products contain THC.

“It’s entirely possible to eliminate all of the THC,” Babalonis said. “About 30% of the products we tested did not contain THC.”

Sloppy manufacturing and poor quality testing could be to blame, she said, but Babalonis suspects some cases could involve consumer manipulation.

“If we’re a bit cynical, we might think that if people are feeling an effect from something — if they’re feeling a subjective effect — they might think the product works,” Babalonis said. “Whereas if you don’t necessarily feel the effects of something, you may tend to think it’s not working.”

These findings show that tighter regulation is needed for CBD products, Babalonis and Aussem said.

“Consumers deserve accurate marketing claims and if they choose to buy CBD, to know exactly what’s in the product,” Aussem said. “It has felt like the Wild West for some time as CBD products have proliferated, advertised for many ailments with no research to prove it and no quality control oversight.”

Of the products tested, 21 were labeled “THC-free”. Five of them contained detectable levels of THC, according to the study.

“If you buy a drink at the grocery store, you’d expect it to say there’s no alcohol in it, that there’s no alcohol in it,” Babalonis said. . “You wouldn’t drink it expecting to feel the effects of alcohol or maybe blowing on a breathalyzer. It’s the same thing.”

The US National Institutes of Health know more about cannabidiol.

SOURCES: Shanna Babalonis, PhD, assistant professor, behavioral sciences, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington; Pat Aussem, LPC, MAC, Associate Vice President, Consumer Clinical Content Development, Partnership to End Addiction, New York; Drug and alcohol addictionJune 3, 2022, online