Can You Fail a Drug Test Due to CBD?

Whether you’re someone who has taken CBD only a couple of times in their life, or a person who takes a high dose daily to manage something specific, you might be wondering how long that cannabinoid actually stays in your system.  Its effects will last only up to a handful of hours depending on how much you take and the form that you take it in, but that doesn’t mean that it disappears from the body completely once those effects wear off.

We understand that because cannabidiol is still a fairly new market. And, because it’s so closely related to marijuana, a lot of people remain hesitant to give it a try. This is despite the fact that it’s proven to be one of the most useful natural products out there today. Cannabidiol is a compound that naturally occurs in the hemp plant.  The hemp plant is a member of the cannabis genus, as is marijuana. Hence, it’s natural that many people continue to wrongfully believe that CBD is a marijuana product.

One way to determine how long cannabidiol stays in the body is by testing the urine. You may even be surprised to know that there’s a way to check urine for cannabidiol levels. So, for any professionals out there who want to try CBD but are worried that they will fail a drug test as a result, allow us to clear some things up.

Can You Fail a Drug Test Due to CBD?

Standard Drug Tests are Not Searching for CBD

Before we talk about how long cannabidiol may be found in a urine sample, let’s clear one thing up.  Standard drug tests do not search for the CBD compound specifically, because CBD is completely legal throughout the country, and therefore isn’t considered a drug.  There are highly specialized tests for cannabidiol, but they cost a lot of money to obtain, and are of basically no use to employers, sports administrators, etc. CBD is legal, and so there’s no reason to worry about possibly losing your job or some other important part of your livelihood due to your hemp usage. Unless, of course, you’re in an industry or organization where CBD is strictly forbidden, and that organization or industry is testing for CBD specifically.

Still, even then, it’s extremely unlikely anything would happen. That’s because CBD urine tests are incredibly expensive, and not really used in drug-testing environments. Wellness researchers use them in order to better understand how CBD is processed by the body.

The THC in Hemp is Generally Too Low to Show Up on a Drug Test

But, what drug tests do look for is THC.  THC is the compound in cannabis that’s psychoactive. In hemp, there’s no more than 0.3 percent.  This is a trace amount, and really can’t show up on a drug test.  It’s just too low to register on a system.  It’s also within the legal limit and cannot get you high.

A man holding a watch

How Long CBD May Be Detected in Urine

One way to determine how long cannabidiol stays in the body is by testing the urine.  And, you may be surprised to know that there is a way to check urine for cannabidiol levels. Only a few studies have tested CBD levels in urine, and what we know is that it can stay detectable anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks after the last use. The thing is that it depends on many unique factors.

Factor #1: How Much You Take in Terms of Milligrams

Naturally, the more CBD you consume, the longer it will take for the body to clear it completely.

Factor #2: Delivery Method

Each delivery method determines how your body utilizes, absorbs, and processes cannabinoids. Therefore, some methods may “hang onto” the CBD longer than others.

Factor #3: How Often You Take It

Being a casual hemp user is quite different from being someone who takes several doses a day. The more often you take it, the more those levels will build up in the body. Thus, requiring more time to fully clear out.

Factor #4: How Your Unique Body Plays a Role

Some of us just metabolize various substances faster than others, due to our unique bodily chemistry. Therefore, you really can’t know ahead of time how long your CBD usage will show up in a urine test.

Rare Exceptions

There have been extremely rare cases of people failing a drug test after using a CBD product due to its THC content.  In these rare cases, they either used a CBD product that came from the “other” plant rather than the hemp plant, or used a hemp-based product that was an anomaly in that it had more than the legal limit of THC, and the company did not test for this.

How to Ensure You Pass a Drug Test as a Hemp User

So, how do you make sure that you don’t end up being one of those extremely rare cases of failing a drug test because of your CBD routine?  Well, that’s easy.  There are two types of CBD products that are completely free of THC, as the compound has been removed.  Broad spectrum hemp contains every compound in hemp except for THC, all of which are perfectly legal.  Then, there’s CBD isolate, which is a pure CBD extract free of any other compounds.

Final Thoughts

The chance of failing a drug test as a result of taking any CBD product that comes from the hemp plant is next to zero.  But, if you really wish to be safe, invest in THC-free CBD products, which are widely available today. Remember, cannabidiol can stay in the urine for up to several days, depending on many unique factors, including your own body’s method of metabolizing cannabinoids. Good news is that no matter how long CBD does stay in your particular body, it will not cause you to fail a drug test.

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