CBD, or cannabidiol, shows up everywhere these days. So, I decided to get an expert’s perspective into CBD oil from hemp, which is different from hemp oil. First you should know that hemp refers to Cannabis sativa, cultivars grown for industrial purposes. It’s characterized by lower levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the component associated with the high that accompanies marijuana. Both hemp and CBD oil come from the same plant, but different parts of it. You get hemp oil from the seeds, which can be used as a dietary supplement and also in cosmetics. It contains essential fatty acids Omega 6 and the polyunsaturated Omega 3, our bodies’ building blocks.
The CBD difference
Because Lost Remedy uses NuLeaf Naturals CBD oil exclusively, it made sense to talk with an expert in the company. I spoke with Crystal Guess, senior account executive. Not to freak anyone out, but you can’t have fully therapeutic CBD without THC. Here’s why.
“CBD is a compound. It’s a cannabinoid that’s found in the plant. Something important for people to understand is you hear hemp, marijuana, Mary jane, weed. It’s all the same stuff. It’s all cannabis. It all comes from the same plant. It’s just how one [plant] self-selected to grow,” says Guess. “Hemp is rich in CBD, cannabidiol … marijuana is rich in THC, which is [perceived as] public enemy number one. CBD and THC are the most prolific compounds in the plant profile and CBD does all the things THC does, but without the high.”
In case you didn’t catch that, CBD is a compound in hemp, but hemp isn’t CBD. Guess explains that unlike hemp oil, which comes from the seeds, CBD oil comes from the trichomes found in the flower. “When you look at the buds or flower of the plant under a microscope, you’ll see these little nodules, trichomes – little clear eels that stick up off the leaves and they have a little bulb at the end of them. That’s where the medicine is, in the trichomes,” she says.
To extract the trichomes, NuLeaf uses eco-friendly CO2 extraction, which provides a purer final product with minimal risk of contaminants. The end result of the extraction is an oil that’s rich in CBD. Bear in mind, that there is probably at least 0.3% THC in the CBD oil for it to be the most effective.
Types of CBD
There are three main types of CBD on the market today: CBD isolates, broad spectrum CBD and full spectrum CBD. Isolates have no other cannabinoids, while broad-spectrum and full-spectrum CBD have numerous cannabinoids. Full-spectrum is the only CBD oil with THC.
Now, there are companies that put a CBD isolate in coconut oil, bottle it, and sell it as a medicine. But without other cannabinoids, it doesn’t have the same power.
For those who fear THC or are intimidated because of potential testing, Guess usually responds like this, “So I ask them if you want vitamin C, would you rather eat an orange or take the pill. Most people say I want the orange,” says Guess. “That’s your full spectrum, the orange. Your isolate is the vitamin C pill.”
Praise for full-spectrum CBD
To further drive home the point of the efficacy of full-spectrum CBD oil, Guess made up a story. To give the story full impact, Guess personifies CBD. It’s called the forest story, and it goes like this:
You say, “Hey CBD, I’m going to throw you into the forest by yourself for five days, no food, no friends, no tools, no nothing. You’ve got to figure out how to survive by yourself. Good luck, have fun, I’ll pick you up at the trailhead in five days.”
Five days later you come to the trailhead to pick up CBD. She comes crawling out of the forest on her hands and knees. She’s dropped 25 pounds, she’s hallucinating, her eyes are sunken in, she can barely speak. But she’s alive. She did what she had to do to survive, but barely. 
Rewind five days ago. You throw CBD into that same forest with her best friend THC, who knows how to start a fire; CBC who knows how to start a camp; CBG who knows how to hunt and skin animals and CBN who knows how to pick out poisonous berries. Because she had her best friends with her – her entourage – she would have come out of that forest stronger than ever. Without all the components, CBD is powerless. Or as Guess says, “Without your homies, you’re weak.”
Final word on full-spectrum CBD oil
CBD is a complex topic, but the more you know about it, the better able you are to choose the real deal. It pays to know as much as possible about the source of CBD in the product you’re considering. Because Lost Remedy only produces topicals, you have the added comfort of knowing that the CBD doesn’t make it to the bloodstream. So even though we use CBD with 0.3% THC, the products couldn’t make you high if they wanted to.