What Seniors Should Know About CBD Edibles
The rapidly evolving world of CBD offers some exciting new product options for those interested in the benefits of hemp. One of the most intriguing yet confusing new hemp product types are CBD edibles.
Available in everything from hemp gummies to CBD caramels and beyond, CBD edibles give you the benefits of whole-plant hemp CBD in a deliciously enjoyable treat rather than a bitter tincture or health-jeopardizing smoking device.
While this smoke-free variety of CBD products are exciting for older adults & seniors looking to use CBD for wellness support, CBD edibles are not without their stumbling blocks for new users.
That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you discover how to best use full spectrum CBD edibles to take your health management into your own hands with great edible experiences out of the gate.
CBD Basics for Older Adults & Seniors
You may be wondering where to start with CBD due to the mystery surrounding this new class of products. For this guide, we’ll begin with some basic terms to orient the conversation, before moving on to what to expect from your first CBD edible, and finally how to find quality CBD edibles in your area or online.
Let’s begin with the active compounds in hemp edibles.
By now you’ve likely heard that hemp products contain CBD & very little to no THC - though these compound are both “cannabinoids” with similar structures, they have very different effects.
What differentiates the effects of CBD and THC cannabinoids?
In short, their targets and their experience strength. CBD is considered non-psychoactive, meaning it will not produce a euphoric “high” like THC does above a certain threshold. CBD interacts indirectly with a system in the body called the Endocannabinoid System, which works like a thermostat to regulate many of our body’s important inner workings.
While CBD edibles with THC will have different effects, they can also have more benefits, as THC interacts more directly with the body’s regulatory Endocannabinoid System, and thus might have stronger effects on the impulse signalling for pain, swelling, nausea, and other common health concerns than CBD alone might.
THC and CBD also work best together, as they each increase the benefit of the other through multiplying chemistry effects in the body.
“Full Spectrum” hemp products should also contain terpenes, which are responsible for the taste and smell of nearly all natural food products and plants. “Full Spectrum” means that the product should contain the full range of natural compounds in the plant, including CBD, THC, terpenes and more - for a final experience much closer to consuming the raw hemp flower material.
CBD edibles with terpenes will not only have unique flavor profiles that may be more enjoyable, they can have a host of additional positive health impacts. This is due to the long-studied medical benefits of common hemp terpenes like Myrcene, Linalool, Limonene and Pinene, which have been part of herbal medicine practices for millenia!
Now, we say that full spectrum products should have all the compounds in the plant, and not that they always do, because unfortunately hemp CBD is a very gray market right now - with the lack of regulations around CBD labeling, testing and ingredients, there is an abundance of snake oil on the market & contaminants are possible in your final CBD products which may not be accurately disclosed on the labeling.
How do you avoid bad actors in the CBD industry?
One way is to look for lab results on every batch of CBD product produced, like we provide on our CBD caramels. We have an entire blog series on how to locate the CBD edible lab results for hemp products, and how to interpret them, to help you ensure that your CBD products are safe & accurately labeled.
It’s also incredibly important to note that there are some possible negative interactions between CBD and other compounds, including some pharmaceuticals that are common among seniors interested in using CBD - be certain speak to your doctor and do research on known drug interactions between CBD and your medications before trying CBD edibles to ensure you do not experience liver enzyme impacts or other rare side effects that could prove dangerous.
To learn more about the possible drug interactions of CBD and other cannabinoid compounds, start by listening to our podcast episode with Codi Peterson, a pediatric & emergency pharmacist practicing cannabis medicine in Southern California.
CBD Edible 101 - Everything You Need to Know
Learn more about the Terpenes of Hemp!
So what do CBD edibles feel like?
This is difficult to simplify, as the effects of CBD will be very dependent on dose and other cannabinoid & terpene compounds consumed along with CBD (if the hemp product is full spectrum).
How CBD makes you feel can even vary from consumption to consumption based on external factors like hunger, hydration, stress levels, and sleep among others.
That said, most consumers report using CBD edibles to relax, unwind from stressors in their daily life, and lead more active lives by supporting their Endocannabinoid System to help the body better manage certain health symptoms in a more natural way. Using CBD edibles with terpenes that support your specific needs will help tailor your CBD effects!
How to best eat your CBD edibles will depend on the type of product you have and how quickly you want to feel CBD effects - using CBD edibles under the tongue rather than swallowed whole speeds up the rate at which you will feel effects, so try dissolving your CBD edible under your tongue if possible if you want to feel the effects of cannabinoids sooner.
However, if you’re looking for a longer effective period from your CBD edibles, traditional chew-and-swallow consumption will provide a much more extended effective period in most cases. If you need near-immediate relief and long term comfort support, try dissolving half your CBD dose under your tongue and eating half afterward to get the best of both worlds!
When to take CBD edibles will be very dependent on your actual needs and your dosage. If you’re looking to use CBD to relax at night, especially in higher doses, you’ll want to consume in the mid to late evening once you have finished your tasks for the day, so that nothing impedes your relaxation.
If you need the effects of CBD to stay active during the day, try a full spectrum edible with uplifting terpenes to get great benefits without the interference of too much CBD relaxation.
So how long do CBD edibles last?
As you can image, this is also dependent on your CBD dose, THC content & terpenes present in the edibles, and other factors we’ve mentioned here.
Generally, you can expect to feel the effects of CBD edibles taken “sublingually”, or under the tongue, in as little as 15-20 minutes, and the effects may last for an hour or more.
Traditionally-consumed CBD edibles typically begin to take effect within 20 minutes to an hour depending on your digestion speed (those with slow metabolisms may not notice effects for up to 2 hours, so be careful about not consuming more CBD before your first dose takes effect!) and most often provide effects for between 2-4 hours and sometimes as much as 6-8 hours for very high CBD doses.
Lastly, if you have any concerns about whether CBD edibles will show on a drug test, you should be extremely cautous about consuming CBD edibles - while pure CBD itself should not cause a failed drug test since those are testing for THC metabolites specifically, there is aways a possibility of residual THC in CBD products even labeled as 100% THC-free.
The best way to confirm the CBD, THC, and other cannabinoid content in your hemp products is to request and read the lab results for the type, and preferably specific batch, of CBD products you are considering. Confirming lab results and labeling is one of the best ways to ensure you get a quality CBD edible that you can trust.
Let’s cover a few more tips for ensuring you get a good CBD edible, or any CBD product for that matter.
How and Where to Get Quality CBD Edibles
There are a few simple steps to follow to ensure you get quality CBD edibles, whether from a store near you or purchased online & delivered to your door.
If you’re shopping for CBD locally, make sure you’re in one of the majority of states where CBD edibles are currently legal as of 2021 to ensure you’re buying a product that complies with local law - if you’re in any state except Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Nebraska, New York*, North Carolina, North Dakota, or Ohio as of early April 2021, then you’re in luck as CBD edibles are fully legal and you’ll likely find quality products in CBD stores.
*If you’re in New York, your state seems to be poised to allow the sale of CBD edibles (with some restrictions) very soon along with fully legalizing recreational consumption, so stay tuned on changes coming to your CBD edible access!
So if you do live in a legal CBD edible state, your nearest CBD specialty stores will be the most knowledgeable about the effects of CBD edibles and other hemp products you might use for specific effects, like CBD oil or full-spectrum CBD topicals. Consider buying from a CBD or health-specific store - never purchase CBD from a gas station or other shady retailer, as these products are near-impossible to verify!
Figuring out here to get CBD edibles online is even more overwhelming with the amount of choices you have - everywere from Amazon to eBay is dealing in CBD edibles now!
You also have the option to buy direct from CBD manufacturers in states across the country & have CBD edibles shipped to you, giving you the freedom to choose your brand.
When possible, look for a CBD edible maker that also has a history of manufacturing THC edibles in their state-legal recreational or medical markets - these companies will be held to much stricter testing and product quality regulations on the THC side by their state regulation agencies, so you can bet that they will likely apply the same level of care and quality to their CBD-only products in spite of similar regulations lacking on CBD products.
The best bet for purchasing good CBD edibles online is to go with reputable CBD edible producers who are extremely transparent about their product formulas and production processes - explore our hemp-butter CBD caramel product descriptions for examples of the type of details to look for on your CBD edibles, including each cannabinoid’s dosage, any minor cannabinoids present, the CBD edible infusion method, and terpene content, as well as lab results verification of course.
We can’t say enough to always verify CBD lab results (use our “understanding CBD lab results” how-to guide for more information on how to interpret CBD lab results if they look confusing to you!) to ensure that the information given matches the product labeling - other ways to help gauge the quality of a CBD company are:
search the company’s website thoroughly for any red flags like illegal health claims or lack of crucial information
contact the company directly by phone or email with any questions you might have and judge their response for trustworthiness and transparency - be weary of a company that doesn’t alow contact or doesn’t respond!
read reviews on third-party sites or social media to see what others have experienced from the brand
We hope this CBD Edible User guide has empowered you to find a quality CBD edible that meets your unique needs without having to wonder about what you’re consuming and the effects you’ll experience from CBD.
If you have any further questions, please contact us directly so we can help guide you to your ideal CBD success story!