The State of the CBD Industry

In the US there have been over 1000 new CBD brands created in 2019.With so many new products on the market it’s nearly impossible for consumers to know the difference between companies that are invested in making the highest quality CBD products and those looking to make easy money off the CBD explosion and lack of reliable market information and regulation.

A 2017 study performed at the University of Pennsylvania has a very troubling conclusion for the CBD market, stating that 70 percent of CBD products are not what they claim to be. They can have much less CBD than advertised, have THC when they aren’t supposed to, or have contaminants and molds from sub-par manufacturing processes.

Think about what you’ve heard about CBD. Do the manufacturer claims seem too good to be true? Or what about the claims from your neighbor that they have the best CBD brand and you should “drink the Kool-Aid”? What if there was a company out there that rigorously tests the thousands of CBD products in a scientific laboratory for you?

How Do You Find the Best CBD Products Available?

We created TruPotency to get to the bottom of the question: what is the highest-quality, safest, and most effective CBD oil?

Our team started to jump on the question of how to test and pinpoint the best CBD oils and other products because we have first hand experience with both good and bad brands of CBD. We know the efficacy of quality CBD products in our daily lives. Getting to the bottom of this question is as much a personal pursuit for our team as it is a company mission.

Before launching TruPotency.com, we tested over 250 products with our independent laboratory partners. After spending tens of thousands of dollars on expensive testing procedures, we were surprised to find less than 50 products met our standards of having as much CBD as claimed, no harmful chemicals or heavy metals. This rate of passing products is strikingly similar to the results released by the University of Pennsylvania.

Now our laboratory data bank has grown and so has our understanding of the CBD and cannabinoid testing industry. We now test with multiple ISO certified labs across the country with even more brands and products. After receiving over 700 products only 60 have made it to our website for sale as safe and properly advertised (so far!).

A Troubling Testing Story

If we get a good CBD test result back on a product, does that mean the product is actually good? And if we get a bad result back, does that mean that product is actually bad?

The answer might be a little gray. A certificate of analysis for CBD lab testing should be consistent from sample to sample and lab to lab, but we have found that is not the case. We sent a sample from a very reputable brand to a lab (we’ll call it Lab1) and the Lab1 test results showed slightly over half of the labeled CBD concentration.

Because the company who sent the sample is very reputable, we asked Lab1 to retest the product and sent another sample from the same bottle to a different lab testing facility as well (Lab2). Lab1 gave us a new certificate of analysis that showed CBD almost three times higher than the first lab results and almost two times higher than the labeled claim.

Lab2 gave us a Certificate of Analysis that actually matched the label claim. So the question becomes, “who is correct?” If any company can have their products retested after the first certificate of analysis is not what they want, then how do we verify the certificate of analysis is legitimate?

So what needs to change to make sure all products are legitimate? TruPotency can help with industry transparency, but to move forward as an industry we need legalization and regulation of cannabis based product. If there are strict testing and manufacturing regulations in place, then you can be more confident that the product was produced with good manufacturing practice and validly lab tested. Stringent standards are the only way to move the cannabis industry forward to producing safe and effective products.

Taking Testing a Step Further

Not only do we verify the products contain what they claim, we’re also using the analytical test results in a unique way. Using our team of science advisors — MD’s and PHD’s — we’re isolating the highest quality CBD products based on the most recent scientific journals. As of November 2019 there are over 100 clinical trials and abundantly more academic studies being performed on CBD for a range of effects including pain and inflammation, nausea, anxiety, insomnia and more.

We used the same resources on clinical trials and scientific studies to gather and organize the known information about cannabinoids, terpenes, and other ingredients to create an algorithm that helps you better understand and identify the product for your needs. Every product’s cannabinoid and terpene profile that the algorithm uses can be found on each product page,including links to our laboratory test results for the curious and scientifically inclined.

Our algorithm is unique because we use contemporary science to rate the products. So, how does this work?

Let’s say a CBD product contains complementary cannabinoids THC and CBN with terpenes linalool and myrcene at moderate levels. When the algorithm evaluates this, it will take into account that all of these are reported to be sedating and rate the product favorably for sleep and nighttime use. This is how we’re able to provide our customers with real information they can actually use.

Bottom Line

Although CBD and other cannabinoids have amazing medicinal promise, the market has its faults. We plan to continue analytically testing products to consistently pinpoint and source the most effective CBD products in the market. No one has stepped up to be a watchdog in the CBD market, so we are inspired to take the lead on this task, allowing you to be confident in your daily CBD relief.