This article was originally published on Real Tested CBD. To view the original article, click here.

According to the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp can be legally grown as long as it contains 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or less. Once the hemp is grown, it can be turned into gummies, oils, tinctures, creams, honey and other products. While the Farm Bill made CBD products legal, THC is still against the law. If a plant has too much THC, it must be destroyed by the farmer.

What Is Hot Hemp?

Since the passage of the Farm Bill, there have been rumors about people selling hot hemp. This term basically refers to hemp that has more than the 0.3 percent limit of THC. For the most part, this rumor is just a myth. While the hemp plant may sometimes have more than 0.3 percent THC, CBD products never do.

At Real Tested CBD, we have not encountered any hot hemp across more than 50 brands. We have tested a broad range of CBD tinctures, CBD gummies, CBD capsules, CBD creams, CBD honey and CBD oils. None of these products have come anywhere close to 0.3 percent.

This does not mean that hemp plants do not have higher THC levels on occasion. However, these plants are destroyed before they can be turned into CBD products. It is against the law to use hemp plants that contain more than 0.3 percent THC, so we cannot manufacture hemp products from any plant that has higher THC levels.

Hemp Plants May Test Hot, But Hemp Products Cannot

Hot hemp crops typically happen when farmers are testing out new seeds. THC spikes can also happen because of changes in the plant’s growing environment. A long flowering period can make the final plant have more THC than it normally does.

Even when the hemp crop has a high level of THC, the final product does not. This is because of how the processing method works. Real Tested CBD has tested a wide array of plants and products. In our experience, we have discovered that hemp plants can occasionally test over the 0.3 percent THC level. We found one strain of CBD hemp that had 19.6 percent CBD and 0.6 percent THC. Even with a THC level that was higher than normal, the finished product was still free of THC because of how it was processed.

The problem is the FDA and DEA are making it insanely hard for growers to not test ‘hot’ on at least a few plants. The .03% THC limit is arbitrary and not actually reflected on the difference between hemp and cannabis. The FDA and DEA could effectively shut down the CBD industry if they continue to regular growers as stringently as they do Uranium.

When it comes to CBD products, the myth of hot hemp is really just a myth. We cannot manufacture products from THC that does not exist in the plant. Even when there is some THC in the plant, the chemical processes remove the THC content.

Hemp Legislation Remains Unfair

While it is essentially impossible for CBD products to have too much THC when they are made by a reputable company, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not making the production process any easier. The rule about 0.3 percent THC is unfair for farmers and manufacturers. Unfortunately, the FDA does not plan on fixing this arbitrary rule at any point in the near future. Instead, the FDA says that the rule can only be fixed through an act of Congress.

Until the laws are fixed, companies like Real Tested CBD will check products to make sure that they comply with the FDA’s rules. While hot hemp is primarily a myth, we will always check products for their THC levels because consumers need to know what they are buying. As a result, customers can be confident in the product’s quality and THC content.

 

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