19 Feb Industrial vs. Therapeutic Hemp: What’s in Elixinol CBD?

Often mistaken for each other, hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the Cannabis sativa L. plant, the former being cultivated for seeds, oil and fiber, while the latter is cultivated for its high content of THC, psychoactive compound.

Industrial hemp contains less than 1.5% of THC, the cultivation of this plant being legal in numerous countries.

The edible products obtained from industrial hemp, mainly the seeds and oil, are rich in protein, vitamins and fatty acids, so they’re an important source of nutrients that causes no side-effects.

Thanks to its versatility, hemp is used as raw material for textile and body care products, pet food, paper, detergents and biomass fuel.

The controversy over the legalization of hemp has generated a lot of debate and has brought this plant into the spotlight again, increasing awareness about the properties of cannabinoids and benefits of CBD oil obtained from industrial hemp, as well as about the various hemp products. However, there are still numerous sources of misinformation out there, so it’s worth pointing out the differences between marijuana, industrial hemp and therapeutic hemp.

Industrial vs. therapeutic hemp: characteristics and differences

Hemp is grown differently than marijuana, and the oil is obtained from specific parts of the plant which do not contain THC. Most of the THC content is found in the buds and flowers of the cannabis plant, but industrial hemp is not cultivated to produce buds, so this explains the different content of THC in marijuana versus hemp.

Then, therapeutic hemp is not exactly the same with industrial hemp; the recently introduced “Charlotte’s Web Medical Hemp Act of 2014” defines therapeutic hemp, which is obtained from the Charlotte’s Web strain of low-THC, high-CBD cannabis, as “hemp that doesn’t make you high”.

Charlotte’s Web is a strain of medical marijuana, which is processed into a non-psychoactive extract with a high content of cannabidiol. It was first developed in 2011 by the Stanley brothers, by crossbreeding marijuana with industrial hemp, and it’s a regulated product. Level of THC is minimum and the amount of CBD is higher than in regular industrial hemp, around 17%.

The plant owes its therapeutic properties to cannabidiol (CBD), compound which was proven to have beneficial effects in nausea, inflammation, anxiety, convulsions and epileptic seizures. A significant number of studies have shown that CBD has positive effects on blood pressure and nervous system, and can be a potential solution for stimulating bone growth, inhibiting tumor growth and treating diabetes.

Producers of therapeutic hemp breed the plant to increase its content of CBD. Regular industrial hemp is not cultivated for this purpose, so although it does contain a low amount of THC and is not psychoactive, it also contains lower amounts of CBD than the therapeutic plant.

Hemp seeds are a good source of cannabidiol, but they don’t offer plenty of this compound, so in order to get the most of this plant and obtain a product with a higher concentration of cannabidiol, special extraction techniques are required.

How Elixinol obtains its 18% CBD oil

Elixinol uses specially bred plants, which have a higher level of CBD, but the original extracts are still low in this compound, so we need to take the extract and then purify it in order to obtain a higher concentration of cannabidiol. The purified industrial hemp extract produced by our company has 18% CBD, which is similar to the ratio in therapeutic hemp extracts obtained from Charlotte’s Web.

Being a high quality concentrate obtained through a complex procedure, Elixionl CBD is more expensive than other hemp oils available on the market, but it’s one of the few products that is supported by laboratory tests. You can check the evidence of purity and profile by downloading our Lab Results report.

To obtain similar concentrations, one has to use high-CBD strains, like Charlotte’s web, Harlequin, Sour Tsunami, Cannatonic or Valentine X. The levels of CBD in these plans vary from grower to grower and even from plant to plant, so what really makes the difference is not the breeding itself but the extraction procedure.

We’re proud to say that the Super Critical Fluid extraction used for obtaining Elixinol CBD oil is a safe, sustainable and superior method that allows us to obtain a pure, highly concentrated and nutrient-rich oil, loaded with phytonutrients. While we believe that our product is the best available on the market, we encourage you to do your research and pick the CBD oil that best fits your budget and needs, but make sure to always ask for lab tests before investing in any product.