What is the difference between hemp and CBD?

[posh]

?

 

[Azimuth]

Hemp is a type of cannabis with very little thc in it. The cannabis plant has many cannabinoids, terpines and other compounds that produce various effects and those include thc, cbd, cbg, etc.

Hemp is a version that has been bred for use in textiles, for nutritious seeds, and cbd, while what some refer to as Marijuana has been mainly bred for high thc and the psychoactive effects.

 

[Icemud]

Hemp is a type of cannabis plant that produces low THC and high CBD and other cannabinoids. Generally it is much taller and lankier than the "drug type" cannabis that most of us grow here as hemp is usually grown for its other attributes like fibers, however with the CBD market becomming mainstream, a lot of hemp is also used for cannabinoid extraction in todays market. Hemp also is commonly grown for its seed which many consider a superfood for humans.

CBD is just one of many cannabinoids that is found in the cannabis plant.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Hey @posh and welcome to the forum!

This is my area of expertise. I'll rephrase your question a bit... "What's the difference between hemp and cannabis that contains CBD?"

All of the following are in the same botanical genus, Cannabis: hemp, CBD hemp, marijuana, ganja, indica, sativa, ruderalis. Indica, sativa, and ruderalis are the 3 recognized species within the genus. Marijuana and ganja are other names used for high-THC varieties of cannabis indica and cannabis sativa.

Cannabis is also categorized into chemotypes, which are classifications based on the expression of cannabinoids (THC, CBD, etc.) in particular varieties. Here are the chemotypes (Roman numerals): I) high-THC, II) significant amounts of both THC and CBD, III) significant amounts of CBD and very little THC, IV) high CBG and very little or no THC and CBD, and V) no significant amount of any cannabinoids.

Now, with this background info explained, I will explain what hemp is, and what CBD hemp is.

Hemp is a very general term, which is sometimes even used synonymously with cannabis. I will talk about hemp, and CBD hemp, as types of cannabis plants. Hemp is also a legal term, used by the U.S. federal government, U.S. states, and by other countries. In the U.S., the legal definition of hemp is any cannabis which contains no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC. The amount, 0.3%, is a completely arbitrary number that isn't grounded in anything scientific or biological, with respect to the cannabis plant. It relates to government prohibition of THC.

As others have said, hemp (or industrial hemp) is a type of cannabis that was developed by humans from wild types for the purposes of food (seed and seed oil) and fiber (stalks/hurds). There are many types of hemp – some developed specifically to produce seed, while others specifically for fiber. There's little to no THC in hemp plants, and CBD can range from little or none to a few percent (e.g. 4%). (Some types of hemp developed for seed or fiber may attain CBD levels much greater than 4%, under ideal conditions.) All types of hemp fall into chemotype III.

The kind of hemp that most farmers are growing in the U.S. is CBD hemp, because it's a lot more lucrative than non-CBD types of hemp (seed and fiber varieties). Other countries are leaders in seed and fiber hemp production, e.g. Canada, and some European countries, etc. CBD hemp is high in CBD and has very little THC. Farmers in the U.S. typically grow CBD hemp that produces flowers that have around 10% CBD (let's say 8-12%). There are other varieties that produce higher amounts, up to 20% or even 24%. All CBD hemp varieties also fall into chemotype III.

One fact about CBD hemp that a lot of people don't know: virtually all CBD hemp plants (of any variety) legally start out as hemp and end up being marijuana – that is, if they aren't harvested early, the THC percent will exceed 0.3%.

I am growing 3 different phenotypes of a CBD hemp variety that's around 10% CBD. I'm also growing a CBG phenotype. I recently acquired seed for two different CBD strains that should produce around 20% CBD.

 

[013]

I’m reliably informed- one gets you stoned & possibly tossed in the clink, while the other does not.…

welcome to 420 posh!!!

 

[Jaz]

what some refer to as marijuana

Mainly hispanics and old people.

These days it's considered racist; we now call it cannabis... just like we used to.

During the whole 'Reefer Madness' era, those wanting prohibition started calling cannabis 'marijuana/marihuana' to stir up xenophobia, it's easier to put fear into people if they think the product is 'foreign'.

Stop saying 'marijuana'? Lawmakers say it's racist

j

 

[cbdhemp808]

I wouldn't call it racist, and I'm sure it's Democrats calling it that. But it is indeed a weaponized term that was used by the federal government to stigmatize the herb as some kind of bad, foreign drug. Apparently a lot of the herb was coming in through Mexico back then.

 

[Jaz]

I wouldn't call it racist

I get what you're saying, it's all about context.

By calling it marijuana, Anslinger meant to cast a menacing, xenophobic shadow over good old patriotic hemp... and let’s be clear: By calling it marijuana, the intent was to frame cannabis as a dark-skinned threat to notions of white American innocence and purity.

Where we see the actual harm of the use of the word marijuana is in the federal legal code because it was intentionally used to align the plant with Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, in order to incite xenophobia and bigotry.

^ That's pretty racist if you ask me.

Is the word ‘marijuana’ racist?

j

 

[cbdhemp808]

... intentionally used to align the plant with Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, in order to incite xenophobia and bigotry.

Later in the article, the author, Leafly Senior Editor Bruce Barcott, says:

Let me say it clearly: Marijuana is not pejorative or racist.

The impulse that drove Morgan to change the language of Washington State law wasn’t unfounded, though. It’s time to update the legal conversation to cannabis. But Morgan’s diagnosis was imprecise and too simplistic. Marijuana is a problematic, complicated word with a problematic, complicated history. In the year 2022 it exists in a state of flux, loathed by some while used without malice by many.

Of course the word wasn't invented by Anslinger. The word was used hundreds of years prior by the Spanish in Latin America. Westin Johnson writes: "Marijuana would become the Spanish word used to describe the plant, spread throughout Latin America around 1545 by Spaniard explorers importing the plant to Chile for its use as fiber. The word marijuana would fade in and out of prominence throughout history, but saw special popularity in Mexico during the Mexican Revolutionary era around the early 1900s." [ source ]

More on the linguistic origins:

It was used in Mexico as early as 1840 for the plant called Cannabis, and its linguistic origins are uncertain: homophone for Maria Juana (uncertain origin: derived from Spanish mariguan, a non-native plant associated with other psychoactive plants known in Mexico), but potentially connected to a word for hemp used by Chinese laborers in Mexico, itself perhaps borrowed from Semitic and Indo-European words for marjoram—note the Spanish word mejorana, and the Mexican slang term for cannabis, mejorana Chino.

[ source ]

Marijuana ... sounding very similar to the Spanish, María Juana (Mary Jane).

The word is happily used by none other than the Marley brothers...

​

Medication by Damian Marley and Stephen Marley​

"Inna fields of marijuana that is my playground / I love you, Mary J"...​

Marijuana by Jah Cure and Damian Marley...​

My conclusions:

The word marijuana was in use long before it was hijacked by the U.S. federal government in its prohibition of cannabis. In the 1930s when the word was introduced to the U.S., I don't see it's use at that time as being racist – that interpretation is too simplistic. The word was strategically used to stigmatize the herb as some kind of bad, foreign drug. A new word was needed for prohibition, to target the use of the herb as associated with the intoxicating effects of smoking joints. The traditional word, cannabis, wouldn't work for that purpose. They borrowed a word from south of the border.

The word marijuana is certainly not racist today – it harkens back to a time long ago in other lands where the plant was already known, and in use, for a variety of purposes.

In modern times, the word marijuana is more associated with high-THC cannabis. I think it's high time for better terminology for the array of qualities and uses that this plant brings. Surely, high-CBD/low-THC cannabis shouldn't be called marijuana. What do we call it? CBD hemp? Why hemp? Hemp is industrial hemp – something grown for seed (food/oil) and fiber. What about CBG cannabis? Conclusion: it's all cannabis, and it should all be completely legal. When that happens, good terminology will arise naturally.

 

[Jaz]

The terminology is going the way of many other redundant words that are no longer politically correct. There were a lot of words to describe people from various cultural backgrounds, skin colours, disabilities and with afflictions and illnesses, that are very taboo today ... but back in the day, these words were used by scientists, doctors, etc.

I'm not even going to type these words down, it may offend someone here.

I think it's high time

High time?

for better terminology for the array of qualities and uses that this plant brings.

I totally agree.

j

 

[cbdhemp808]

It seems we are closer to agreement, but still not there.

Ganja is also somewhat redundant, but a perfectly good word to describe high-THC cannabis. I view marijuana and ganja as equally appropriate and neither as politically incorrect. I personally prefer the word ganja when I want to specifically refer to high-THC cannabis.

Clearly, cannabis is not precise enough in some contexts. For example, people are not generally going to say "high-THC cannabis" when they can say marijuana or ganja instead.

I still fumble around when trying to refer to high-CBD cannabis – I usually just say "CBD buds". It wasn't many years ago when saying "CBD buds" probably meant high-THC cannabis with significant amounts of CBD in it. Now it means high-CBD cannabis with very little THC in it. I also now say "CBG buds".

 

[Jaz]

It seems we are closer to agreement but still not there.

Clearly, cannabis is not precise enough in some contexts. For example, people are not generally going to say "high-THC cannabis" when they can say marijuana or ganja instead.

I'm not sure how it is in the US but in Aus. we call it Medical Cannabis (MC) and when you order you can check out percentage THC of the product and then specify which one you want.
i.e. a friend gets 'Topaz Flower' (brand name) which sits @25% THC.

I've told him not just to go for what's highest and tried to explain the relationship between CBD and THC and paranoia, so he may be better going for one a bit higher in CBD for his anxiety.

It wasn't many years ago when saying "CBD buds" probably meant high-THC cannabis with significant amounts of CBD in it. Now it means high-CBD cannabis with very little THC in it. I also now say "CBG buds".

To confuse the issue even more... HHC is now a topic among cannabis users.

If you don't know; the compound sits between CBD and THC and from what I've heard, there is no paranoia associated with it. Something I'm quite keen to try now, lol.

What is HHC?

From the article:
'"Personally, with HHC, I feel energetic,” he said. “I go to the gym. I’m sharp, my brain’s working properly. I typically have back and shoulder pain but I have no pain when I’m on it."'

You do get a high if you have enough and there's also conjecture whether HHC shows up in drug tests and for states where THC is banned, this may be a good legal alternative... till the authorities catch wind and place a ban.

Another thing, some people are no longer saying 'high' or 'stoned' they're now saying things like 'I'm medicated'.

j

 

[Azimuth]

To confuse the issue even more... HHC is now a topic among cannabis users.

The HHC effects stated seem similar to CBG effects with more processing you'd need a lab to do. CBG is supposed to be the "Mother" cannabinoid that all the others come from. I'm growing a high CBG strain now to see what I see.

 

[bluter]

These days it's considered racist; we now call it cannabis... just like we used to.

it never carried that connotation here. it was useful to differentiate it from hemp. the terms hemp and cannabis are far more closely associated, both were previously used to describe low thc plants. the term marijuana / marihuana was in use for a few centuries to describe the high thc plant.

the racism around the term marijuana was an invention of politics, intended both to slur the plant itself, and non-white people through extension. it's something that simply never registered outside the US. we never had the same hang-ups with the term.

the term cannabis refers to the plant genus, which includes both the low and high thc variants. i've never felt that the word cannabis really describes the plant we love. it's simply the current pc descriptor, and does not capture it's use or magic.

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

Mainly hispanics and old people.

These days it's considered racist; we now call it cannabis... just like we used to.

During the whole 'Reefer Madness' era, those wanting prohibition started calling cannabis 'marijuana/marihuana' to stir up xenophobia, it's easier to put fear into people if they think the product is 'foreign'.

Stop saying 'marijuana'? Lawmakers say it's racist

j

¿¡¿ A quien estas llamando viejo ?!? Como tenga que desenfundar el machete y quitarle el bozal al Presa Canario, voy a liar una carniceria aquí, que ni en Camboya....
(Es una broma, claro: al perro no le pongo bozal nunca, je...)

Translation

Hello everyone (hispanics, and old people, incluided)...

Indeed, as @bluter has pointed out, "marihuana" aka "mariguana" is a Spanish word (of Nahuatl origin) that designates a type of cannabis: the most psychoactive. And it was in Mexico, rather than Chile, where the Spanish first cultivated (on a large scale) marijuana in the Americas, and where Native Americans first experienced its psychoactive effects. Hernán Cortés requested permission from the Crown to import seeds from Seville and the Canary Islands.

By the way, I see a lot of false political correctness around here: like before, a government took advantage of the fact that marijuana was a Hispanic word and racism against Hispanics, to charge against marijuana (and against Hispanics... I'm sure blacks wouldn't be very far either, right?), now that marijuana is becoming more and more legal, it generates more and more legal wealth and has more and more acceptance. ..let's eliminate any relationship with Hispanics that could be used against this new good reputation...

Nada nuevo bajo el Sol, mi gente..

The next step that you could take is to change the names of states, cities, etc., to half the USA...: since they are also names of Spanish origin... It is not going to be that someone uses it to tarnish the reputation of California, Arizona , Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Florida, Utah, Oregon...

And of course...: change the name of hashish... Because what a name with such an origin... from an Islamic sect... Because Hispanics and blacks will not be very trustworthy... but at least not they threw the W.T.C...

السلام عليكم جميعاً.
alsalam ealaykum jmyeaan
Peace be upon you all.

 

[Jaz]

to charge against marijuana (and against Hispanics... I'm sure blacks wouldn't be very far either, right?)

Absolutely correct, one reason for prohibition was to stop Mexicans/Mexican Americans and blacks legally selling cannabis to white folk... and thus robbing them from earning an income with the added bonus of putting them into prison... plus they end up working for peanuts, pumping out number plates, etc. See 'Modern slavery'
It's racist to the core.

As an aside, what do you do with 4 million free slaves after the civil war?
The loophole in the 13th amendment (slavery allowable as punishment for a crime) was immediately exploited and ex-slaves were imprisoned for extremely minor offences like loitering, you then had the nation's first prison boom.

How the land of the free became the prison state:

Ya gotta keep prisons full in order for the owners/shareholders to maximise profits

j

 

[Cide Hamete Benengeli]

Absolutely correct, one reason for prohibition was to stop Mexicans/Mexican Americans and blacks legally selling cannabis to white folk... and thus robbing them from earning an income with the added bonus of putting them into prison... plus they end up working for peanuts, pumping out number plates, etc. See 'Modern slavery'
It's racist to the core.

As an aside, what do you do with 4 million free slaves after the civil war?
The loophole in the 13th amendment (slavery allowable as punishment for a crime) was immediately exploited and ex-slaves were arrested for extremely minor offences like loitering, you then had the nation's first prison boom.

How the land of the free became the prison state.

Ya gotta keep those prisons full in order for the owners and shareholders to maximise profits

j

Borderline physical walls are not enough when "the enemy" is already partly inside (it always was...it was in the USA centuries before the USA existed): Let's also build innland physical walls... Let's also build economic & cultural walls...

 

[cbdhemp808]

I'm not sure how it is in the US but in Aus. we call it Medical Cannabis (MC) and when you order you can check out percentage THC of the product and then specify which one you want. i.e. a friend gets 'Topaz Flower' (brand name) which sits @25% THC.

In my U.S. state, patients can obtain a medical cannabis license and can grow plants and buy from a dispensary. We can walk into the dispensary, look at the menu, and buy flower, concentrate, edibles, etc. On the street, people usually call high-THC cannabis weed, herb, or ganja.

I've told him not just to go for what's highest and tried to explain the relationship between CBD and THC and paranoia, so he may be better going for one a bit higher in CBD for his anxiety.

What I do is mix THC buds and CBD buds using the grinder, and then vape. You can select any ratio you want. You can mix THC indica or sativa with CBD that way. The CBD plants I grow are about 10% CBD.

To confuse the issue even more... HHC is now a topic among cannabis users.

If you don't know; the compound sits between CBD and THC and from what I've heard, there is no paranoia associated with it. Something I'm quite keen to try now, lol.

I didn't know about HHC. Just looked it up... It's made by chemical processing of CBD which creates a hydrogenated version of THC (THC with addition of a hydrogen molecule)... hexahydrocannabinol. It seems the whole motivation for HHC is to avoid legal constraints of delta-9 and delta-8 THC. Also, the source material can be legal hemp (i.e. CBD hemp).

Another thing, some people are no longer saying 'high' or 'stoned' they're now saying things like 'I'm medicated'.

My viewpoint is that all forms of cannabinoid-rich cannabis are medicinal.