With the CBD industry booming, some online CBD stores are taking advantage of consumers' lack of awareness and selling low quality – or downright fake - CBD oil. This can have dangerous results.

In 2017, federal health officials revealed that 50 people in Utah had been poisoned by CBD products branding themselves as CBD oils. The victims experienced seizures, hallucinations, and loss of consciousness - symptoms that would never be caused by CBD.

That's why it's important for consumers to understand what constitutes legitimate, high-quality CBD oil, and how to differentiate it from the fakes. These 5 key steps will help identify fake CBD products:

1. Where it comes from

If a seller of CBD oil doesn't know where their CBD comes from, then how they can guarantee its quality? Some companies source their CBD oil as finished products from suppliers, with no real conception of the manufacturing process. These companies are simply in the business to make a quick buck, and can't give consumers any real guarantee of the nature of what they are buying.

2. How it’s made

To get CBD, you have to extract the oil from hemp. Low quality CBD oil may be extracted using very cheap methods involving toxic solvents such as propane, hexane, pentane and butane, which can be harmful to human health.

By comparison, any high-quality CBD oil will be made using one of two extraction methods: it may be processed through pharmaceutical-grade ethanol, or using supercritical CO2 extraction. Each of these methods remove toxins from the hemp, and ensure that what's produced is pure CBD.

3. Quality of Hemp

Hemp is a hyperaccumulator. This means it easily absorbs anything in the soil where it is grown and cultivated. If hemp is grown on low-quality soil where metals like lead and mercury are present, then these metals can be absorbed into the plant and make the hemp dangerous to health. This is why high-quality hemp is grown in rich soil, as ours is in Holland.

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https://ministryofhemp.com/blog/identify-high-quality-cbd/

https://cannabisnow.com/fake-cbd-oil-inside-the-dangerous-new-trend/

https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/how-to-avoid-fake-cbd-oil/