MAJORITY OF ONLINE MEDICAL MARIJUANA PRODUCTS ARE MISLABELED, STUDY SHOWS

Medical marijuana is currently legal in 29 states in the u.s., and the district of columbia, and a growing body of research supports the potential health benefits of cannabidiol (cbd) to help treat some conditions such as epilepsy, anxiety and chronic pain.

Cannabidiol is a chemical that naturally occurs in the cannabis plant. unlike marijuana’s other popular active ingredient, thc, cannabidiol is not known to be addictive or offer users a “high.”



But because marijuana use is illegal under federal law, there is no regulation or oversight for online sales of cannabis products.


A research team from the university of pennsylvania found that nearly 70 percent of cbd products sold online are either over- or under-labeled.

The team, led by marcel bonn-miller, adjunct assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry, spent a month searching and identifying cbd products available for online retail purchase that included cbd content on the packaging.

They purchased 84 commercially available cbd products from 31 different companies, and sent all samples to an independent lab that analyzed each of the product’s ingredients using high-performance liquid chromatography.

The results showed that nearly 31 percent of the products had what the researchers considered an accurate amount of cbd in relation to what was advertised on the product label.

“accurate” for the study referred to the cbd content being within 10 percent of the amount advertised.

However, 42 percent of the products were under-labeled, and 26 percent had more cbd than what was printed on the label.

The findings suggest that patients who are purchasing cbd products to help alleviate symptoms of various conditions may be buying products that are either ineffective, or consuming a higher dose than needed.

The researchers also discovered that accurate labeling varied based on product type. for example, vaping liquid containing cbd was mislabeled most frequently, at 90 percent. about half of extract oils were inaccurately labeled, and tinctures, or alcoholic extracts, were equally likely to be over-, under-, or accurately labeled.