Why Is CBD So Expensive? Clarity on Volatility of CBD Prices

The rise of CBD products has made them in a lot of demand, thus costly. There are various reasons why CBD is so expensive. They include the seed's quality, extraction method, and third-party lab testing.

When shopping for CBD products, one may notice that the cost of the products varies from various products. The varying costs do not mean that you will find any cheap products. They are mainly at a higher price because of the multiple processes CBD farmers have to go through to ensure that they have given out legit and genuine products. It may be because of the quality, research, and maybe third-party results they have to go through. This article discusses the reason why CBD is so costly. Learn more about how is cbd metabolized?

Reasons Why CBD Is So Expensive

Quality of the Seed and the Farming Practice

CBD's cost always starts with the quality of the seed. Most hemp seed farmers aim to grow CBD with fewer THC amounts. Their farm produce is illegal when they are found with hemp seed with a lot of THC. Hemp farming is a lot of work because one has to get a license to set up hemp farming and maintain the legality of the THC threshold. The cannabis plant can be affected by the environment it grows in. It can absorb many compounds found in the background. Cannabis is known to be a susceptible compound. The absorption of the many compounds found within the environment may be advantageous if planted on healthy soils. The only problem it may encounter is if grown on contaminated soil full of pesticides and metals. It is sometimes dangerous as it may compromise the users' health. The work put into ensuring that all the compounds are safe for absorption is one of the reasons why CBD is so expensive.   

The Extraction Method of the Cannabinoids Is Costly

Musio et al. (2018) stated that harvesting the CBD compound involves licensing and machinery, which is very expensive. It requires isolating the terpenes and cannabinoids from the huge organic compound material. When done on a large scale, one may need to go through licensing, machinery, labor, and facilities. To have a high-quality CBD, one must go through supercritical carbon dioxide or ethanol extraction.     

Ethanol extraction

Ethanol is known to be plant-based alcohol created from the process of fermentation. Ubeed et al. (2022) stated that ethanol extraction is one of the main ways to harvest CBD and various cannabinoids. The ethanol extraction process is known to be safe when done correctly. Ethanol is mainly preferred because it quickly evaporates and leaves no harmful residue during extraction. Its chemical composition ensures that terpenes and other cannabinoids that are fa-soluble are dissolved.

This method of extraction is time-consuming and requires one to have expensive equipment to get quality results and the yield to be consistent. Most CBD farmers sometimes prefer carbon dioxide extraction, which is cheaper than ethanol extraction.

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction

Carbon dioxide is said to be in a supercritical state when they are in between a liquid and a gas. It makes it behave as a solvent. Carbon dioxide is mainly preferred because it is a natural gas due to cellular respiration, thus greater for the environment and safe than the other solvents. It is considered to be the most therapeutic form of the CBD compound. Using this method for the extraction of CBD will require one to have expensive equipment that is highly specialized and registered by the state. It makes it easy for CBD farmers to sell their produce at a costly price to cover the amount they have used. The two methods can bring about the production of full-spectrum CBD. They are the most expensive type of CBD because of the presence of almost all the compounds present in the cannabis plant. They also have a lot of demand in the market. To get the isolate-based CBD, the CBD compound must be passed through another process to be completely pure. The same thing will happen to the broad-spectrum CBD to get a THC-free combination.

Quality Assurance Will Need Independent Lab Testing

All brands should be held accountable for the type of CBD products that they sell to consumers. The fact the CBD industry is new has made it poorly regulated. The only way the CBD brands can make up for the cost of their products is by making them go through lab testing. Brands should always send some of their CBD samples to an independent lab so that they can be tested and be sure that the product is not contaminated with pesticides, metals, or some residual solvents. Some of the issues that are tested include; Learn more about cbd yoga

CBD Amount

According to Shover & Humphreys (2020), some companies take advantage of the fact that CBD should be expensive and make people pay a sum even with the amount of CBD being less in their products. The low concentration of CBD will sometimes not affect an individual's body. For the CBD to yield results, it needs specific attention. It means that the amount of CBD should always be labeled to know the content of CBD in them. However, some brands mislabel their content. It is why they have to go through the third-party report.

THC Amount

There is always the likelihood that the hemp product will always have the presence of THC in them. However, they should only have a percentage of 0.3. more of that will always bring about the intoxicating effects. When shopping for broad-spectrum or isolate-based CBD, ensure that the analysis certificate has 0% THC. It is always important to check the percentage to know if you are within the legality threshold.

Conclusion

Producing high-quality CBD products is very expensive. Its popularity has also risen; thus, the demand is high. It is why most CBD products are costly. The consumer's main aim is to make up for the labor and expenses they use to develop the final products. They also do not want to make a loss when selling CBD products. Before settling on a CBD, check on the third-party reports, extraction process, and the source of the products. It will be easier for an individual to know the legit CBD products. 

References

Musio, S., Müssig, J., & Amaducci, S. (2018). Optimizing hemp fiber production for high-performance composite applications. Frontiers in Plant Science, 9, 1702.

Shover, C. L., & Humphreys, K. (2020). Debunking cannabidiol as a treatment for COVID-19: time for the FDA to adopt a focused deterrence model. Cureus, 12(6).

Issues., & Pan, Z. (2021). Cannabidiol and terpenes from hemp–ingredients for future foods and processing technologies. Journal of Future Foods, 1(2), 113-127.         

Ubeed, H. M. S. A., Bhuyan, D. J., Alsherbiny, M. A., Basu, A., & Vuong, Q. V. (2022). A Comprehensive Review on the Techniques for Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Medicinal Cannabis. Molecules, 27(3).