What Is the Difference Between Cannabis and Hemp-Derived CBD?

Cannabis or Hemp: What’s the Difference?

Unfortunately, the history of cannabis is steeped in decades upon decades of misinformation. We’ve been through “Reefer Madness” that set the tone for the next half century or so, and since then, the cannabis industry has been recovering in its wake to rewrite the narrative of what cannabis is. 

Cannabis and hemp are similar but they’re not the same. 

Cannabis is a plant that has two different strains (varieties) — indica and sativa. While what we know as marijuana can be either an indica, sativa, or hybrid (blended), hemp is grown to be abundant in cannabidiol (CBD) with very low quantities of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). 

Physically they look very different as well. 

Cannabis is dense and shorter in height than hemp with rich verdant buds. Hemp, on the other hand, can grow to be very tall and is less dense than cannabis. 

Chemically speaking, they are also very different. 

Cannabis contains the full spectrum of cannabinoids including THC (which can contain up to 15 to 40 percent in concentration) and CBD, while hemp also contains a full spectrum, but has been bred to produce little THC — less than 0.3 percent.