CBD and other cannabinoids are becoming more popular than ever. Since the Cannabis Act was passed in 2018, legalization has brought with it all sorts of health and wellness claims, changes within the culture, and a much more widespread use of cannabis products. While we see these changes mostly as positives, it can be challenging to filter out correct information from misleading health statements, especially when you’re first starting out. There’s a lot to know, a lot of terminology, and often unclear or contradictory advice.

One of the most popular questions we see pop up, especially for new CBD or cannabis users, is about dose. Of course, people want enough CBD for it to be effective, but are sometimes concerned about adverse effects. This is without even talking about Full Spectrum products, THC inclusion, or the ‘entourage effect.’ Things can get complicated.

That’s why we’re here to talk about it. In this article, we’re going to be discussing all things dose: the science, variables, how to start out, risks, things like bioavailability, and methods of consumption. By the end, you should have everything you need to start dosing CBD and other cannabis products.

Impacting Variables

When it comes to dosing, there are a whole lot of variables that make a big difference. Especially if you’re just starting out, it’s important to do your research and learn a bit about the cannabis world first, in order to make the best decisions that you can for yourself. Here, we’ve summarized a lot of this information and added relevant links so you can quickly learn more.

Variables Include:

• Your individual body chemistry, age, weight, height, sex, diet, level of exercise, endocannabinoid system, etc.
• What things you’re trying to treat (sleep, pain, inflammation, hormones, etc.)
• Whether or not you’re taking other medications. CBD and other cannabinoids interact with medication, so this is an important safety one. Always talk to your doctor.
• The method you’re using to consume CBD, as well as the associated bioavailability
• Full Spectrum or the chemical makeup of the products you’re consuming (terpene, cannabinoid, and flavonoid profiles).
• The potency of the products you’re using. For more information about calculating CBD oil dosage, check out this guide we wrote here.

Needless to say, all of this makes calculating dose extra challenging. There are a lot of things to consider. When they first start out, many people may have a standard dose of 10mgs in mind, but this number is arbitrary – it’s mostly based on regulations and THC content than CBD or other cannabinoids.

So with all this in mind, do we have any ideas for a standard dose? Unfortunately, that answer only gets more complicated from here.

State of the Science

In their most recent report on CBD, Health Canada reiterated the many variables and challenges that come with trying to find a standard dose for CBD. They also highlight the lack of research we currently have, in part due to these variables. Other considerations, such as the type of product being used, how companies are marketing their products, and the little amount of research we have available at the moment all make this question a lot harder to answer.

So what science do we have right now?

Short answer: it really depends on what you’re trying to treat. While there are dosage calculators available online, as we’ve already discussed, they’re not an exact science and might not be as useful as you would like them to be.

This research review investigating CBD dosage found that while there’s some evidence to suggest CBD may be effective at treating certain conditions, studies showed such a variety of dose, consumption method, etc. that they never mention even the possibility of a standardized dose. Likewise, research investigating dose often just concludes on notes about CBD’s effectiveness; we have a ways to go before we pin down an exact dose that seems to work for whatever condition is being investigated, and every condition is different. For example, this study found that CBD may be able to help with sleep, but participants all appeared to be taking various doses throughout the experiment.

Currently, the only fully researched and explored CBD dosage calculation is through the FDA approved epilepsy drug, Epidiolex, and the Canadian approved drug, Sativex. Hopefully, as time continues, we’ll continue to develop a better understanding of CBD dosages.

A Matter of Full Spectrum

Another issue with dose – just to make things even more complicated – is that many studies are conducted with CBD isolate, or pure CBD extract. This is an issue because it disregards the effects of other supporting compounds and how they all work together. This is called the ‘entourage effect:’ how supporting cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids work together to create an effect greater than any individual compound on its own could. The research we’ve seen suggests that CBD works better when these other compounds are present, so it can be hard to assess whether doses seen in experiments are applicable to the products normal consumers are using. To summarize, just because a study found that CBD isn’t effective until you’ve taken 100s of mgs of it, this isn’t necessarily the case.

Safety and Side Effects

Thankfully, we do know that CBD appears to be relatively safe. What side effects we do know about tend to be relatively benign, such as drowsiness, digestive issues, or mood changes. Full Spectrum, THC, and other supporting compounds are also their own topics and considerations. Since this is a much larger topic, we’ve spoken about it in-depth here, so check out this post if you’d like to learn more.

To summarize, however, CBD appears to be well-tolerated even at high doses. However, long-term use and the impact other supporting compounds have is less clear.

What All This Means For You

Taking all this into account, what does a functional dose look like? Simply put, we don’t know yet. As the push for research continues, we’re hoping to have a clearer understanding in the next few years. What we can say is that the general recommendation is to start low and go slow, paying attention to how your body reacts.

While dosage calculators are available online, always make sure to discuss medical concerns with your doctor. If mixing medications, they will be able to better inform you about interactions, effects, and potential issues. They will also have an understanding of your personal health needs and can help you establish initial dosages and monitor reactions.

TL;DR

While there has been some research done into establishing what a functional dose of CBD is, we still have a long ways to go. At the moment, studies have shown high amounts of CBD are relatively safe, which means there’s some room for experimentation. While we’re hoping to know more in the future, we’ll continue to make CBD products affordable enough for you to find out.