Are Hemp And CBD The Same Thing?

Posted on by TJ
A man in a hemp field. "Are hemp and CBD the same thing?"

Key Takeaways

  1. CBD is a naturally occurring chemical compound produced by female hemp plants. CBD and hemp are not the same thing.
  2. Hemp-derived CBD and Marijuana-derived CBD are scientifically the same thing. Legally, they are treated differently.
  3. Always look for testing documents when you’re shopping for “hemp” products.

Table of Contents

If you’ve ever called Sunset Lake’s office number, you may have spoken to me (T.J.) or our awesome customer service manager, Rev. We enjoy taking your calls and answering your questions. One that we get all the time has to do with CBD’s relationship to hemp. After all, we carry manufactured CBD products and hemp flower products. I understand that some folks may have the question: Are hemp and CBD the same thing?

In this post, I’ll do my best to break down the relationship between hemp and CBD and even venture into the legal differences. So, without further adieu.

Is Hemp The Same As CBD?

Hemp and CBD are related, but they aren’t the same thing. Let’s first define what each is.

Hemp Is…

Hemp is a species of Cannabis Sativa L. plant bred to have low levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). Some varieties of hemp are used for textiles, building materials, and more. Other types, like the flowering varieties we grow on Sunset Lake Farm, produce high levels of CBD.

Legally Speaking

Legally, here in the United States, any cannabis plant that produces less than 0.3% THC on a dry-weight basis is considered industrial hemp. Because Congress singled out the THC cannabinoid, they left the door open for CBD-rich hemp production.

CBD Is…

CBD is an organic chemical compound produced by Cannabis Sativa L. plants. Both hemp and cannabis (marijuana) plants produce CBD, though at different concentrations. At Sunset Lake CBD, we extract the CBD from our flowers and biomass to infuse it into different wellness products.

Is CBD the same as hemp?

Hemp Produces CBD

To drill down into this point, let’s talk about where CBD comes from.

During the last two months of the hemp plant’s life cycle, in a phase we call the flowering stage, a mature female hemp plant will produce flowers on its branches.

The purpose of the flowers is to catch any hemp pollen that nearby male plants have released into the air. To catch that pollen, female hemp flowers form trichomes, which are small, sticky formations on the exterior of the flower. Inside these trichomes are where cannabinoids like CBD are formed.

If a female hemp plant is never pollinated, it will ramp up cannabinoid production to make its trichomes even stickier. We humans take advantage of the plant’s survival tactic to produce more potent CBD-rich hemp.

Sunset Lake’s Hemp And CBD Products

The reason that Sunset Lake CBD carries different products labeled hemp and CBD is mostly semantic. Our hemp flower comes directly from the hemp plant. We then dry it, cure it, and jar it up. But, because hemp flower is the place on the plant where CBD is created, you’ll still get a good dose of CBD when you choose our smokables. We could have easily called it CBD flower.

Our CBD products, on the other hand, contain no hemp plant parts at all. Our manufactured products only contain the extract we pull from our raw hemp flowers. The only product that bucks this naming convention is our Hemp Salve + Arnica. (I’m not sure what happened there, but here we are!)

Is CBD From Hemp The Same As CBD From Marijuana?

Another question that we get from time to time has to do with CBD derived from different sources. Is CBD the same when we extract it from hemp as opposed to recreational cannabis?

Technically, yes, the cannabinoid itself, CBD, is going to be the same whether or not it is extracted from hemp vs. marijuana. There aren’t subtypes of CBD that are special or exclusive.

However, legally speaking, they are not the same. Cannabinoids extracted from marijuana plants (containing more than 0.3 THC on a dry-weight basis) are all treated as marijuana, CBD included.

On the flip side, cannabinoids that we extract from legal hemp plants are all treated as hemp. That includes hemp-derived THC and THC gummies, too As long as the THC makes up less than 0.3% of the gummy’s weight and comes from hemp plants, it’s considered a hemp product (for now).

Be A Smarter Shopper: Hemp Isn’t Always CBD

Despite everything else in this post, if you leave this page with one nugget of knowledge, let it be this: “Hemp” is not always a stand-in for “CBD.”

What do I mean by this? Because CBD companies face weird advertising rules, there’s room for a lot of bad actors to take advantage of folks who are trying to learn more about and shop for CBD. If you go to Amazon and search for “CBD Gummies,” you’ll find hundreds of listings for hemp gummies that contain 0mg of CBD.

The same is true for

If you’re looking for CBD products or hemp products that contain CBD, always look for testing documentation called a certificate of analysis. This testing document will tell you how many milligrams of CBD are in a product. If you can’t find it, you can ask for one or assume the product isn’t worth your time.

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