Are you one of the 14% of Americans who take CBD (cannabidiol) products? You could be wondering how long the substance can show up on a drug screening, especially if you report to a parole board or if you’re searching for a job.
The simplest answer is that you should assume CBD is detectable on a drug test and avoid using it.
However, learning more about CBD, how long it lasts, and how your body processes it can help you make the best decision.
Here’s what you need to know about CBD and drug tests:
How Does Your Body Process CBD?
The way your body processes CBD depends on how you take it. CBD is available in many forms, including:
- Dietary supplements
- Dried flower
- Edibles
- Oils and tinctures
- Vape cartridges
It’s most common to take CBD orally, though many people vape CBD and some people smoke the dried flower.
When you vape or smoke CBD, it reaches your bloodstream almost immediately, where it starts to cause body and brain effects.
Eating CBD takes a bit longer and depends on some factors, such as whether you’ve eaten recently. However, your body typically starts absorbing and using CBD within an hour of ingesting it.
Effects typically last one to three hours, but lab tests can detect CBD for much longer.
How Long Does CBD Stay in Lab Tests?
Five-panel and 10-panel drug tests typically check for marijuana use by testing for THC, not CBD. That’s because THC is the component that causes a psychoactive high.
The problem is, CBD isn’t usually pure. Up to 70% of CBD products contain an unmarked percentage of CBD, don’t have the same CBD content that the packaging claims it does, or contain THC and other unlisted cannabinoids.
Even legal CBD is not regulated by the FDA and likely to contain other cannabidiols, which is detectable by a drug test and interpreted as marijuana use.
In October 2019, the New York Times confirmed that common drug tests meant to catch THC use are triggering false positives with CBD.
It’s safest to assume that CBD can trigger a positive drug test for as long as THC since both chemicals metabolize at the same rate and are stored in your body’s fat cells.
They both have the same half-life of 18 to 32 hours, which means it takes that long to remove half of the drug from your body.
How Long Does CBD Stay in Your Urine?
CBD and other cannabinoids start to show in your urine beginning about three days after use. How long they remain depends on how frequently you use.
A single dose of CBD could show up on a drug test for 3 days, but if you use CBD daily and heavily, it’s possible it could keep showing up for 30 days or so.
It’s also possible that CBD could show up in your urine for longer than three days if you use a non-pure or non-isolate product. Pure, isolate products contain only CBD with no added cannabidiols that could be detected by drug testing.
How Long Does CBD Stay in Your Hair?
Hair tests are the longest-acting drug test by far, detecting CBD in your body up to 90 days after use or longer.
They’re also known for producing more false positives than other kinds of tests. That’s because this kind of test checks for the presence of cannabinoids in skin oils that your body deposits onto your hair.
It’s possible that if you use topical CBD products such as hemp oil, those products could show up on a drug test as cannabis use.
How Long Does CBD Stay in Your Blood?
Blood tests aren’t a preferred way to test for CBD or other cannabinoids because they don’t work for very long. It can take up to 3 hours to start testing positive, and then the test may only be effective for another hour.
That means blood tests for CBD have a high rate of false negatives simply because the test doesn’t work long enough to detect actual use.
Most employers and other organizations don’t use blood tests for drug screening. In most cases, blood tests can only detect substance use that happened earlier on the same day as the test.
How Long Does CBD Stay in Your Saliva?
Saliva tests start detecting CBD use minutes after you use the substance, but this kind of test is not commonly used for employment or legal reasons.
Depending on how much CBD you take and how often, a saliva test could continue detecting use for 24 to 36 hours after the last time taken.
If you use CBD very often or in heavy amounts, then saliva tests could continue detecting it longer.
How Do You Detox From CBD Faster?
The simple fact is, you can’t detox from CBD faster. Your body processes CBD and other cannabis products at a set rate.
The duration of detox can depend on factors that include:
- Your weight: CBD is fat-soluble, so it stores itself in your fat cells. People who weigh more may have more fat cells, and so more places to store CBD in their body.
- Your metabolism: Metabolism speed is not the same for everyone. Factors that can affect your body’s metabolism include sleep, nutrition, and exercise.
- Your liver health: Your liver processes cannabis and its byproducts, including CBD. Having liver disease can make the detox process longer.
- The dosage and frequency of use: The more CBD you put into your body, the longer it will stay there.
Get Treatment For Cannabis Addiction
It’s true that cannabis is unlikely to cause physical dependence. But you can still become psychologically addicted to it—just like you can become addicted to any substance that you misuse.
Substance abuse can be part of your past. All you have to do is make one phone call today. Call Recovering Champions today to learn about the treatment process!
