Does CBD Oil Make You High? 10 Differences Between CBD vs THC
Americans have received over 191 million prescriptions for opioids since 2017.
Attempting to treat varying pain levels, it can seem as if prescription medications are the only way to get through the day. However, instead of helping the body heal, opioids can wind up causing more damage by increasing the patient’s sensitivity to pain.
Thankfully, CBD is proving to be a healthy alternative to harmful medications. If you’re trying to see if CBD is right for you, you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll address questions like, “Does CBD oil make you high?”, and “Can you get addicted to CBD?”. By fully understanding the differences between CBD and THC, you can finally decide what’s best for the future of your health.
Read on to learn 10 key differences between CBD vs THC.
1. Does CBD Oil Make You High?
First, let’s talk about the most common CBD question, “Does CBD oil make you high?”. Both CBD and THC come from cannabis plants, however, their chemical structures vary greatly.
Since CBD doesn’t have any psychotropic characteristics, it doesn’t produce the famous high that’s associated with cannabis plants. Which begs the question; If CBD doesn’t get you high, what does it feel like?
If you normally have aches and pains, CBD will likely be able to turn down the volume of your discomfort. When stress is a normal part of your day, CBD can be the perfect way to cancel out the energy-zapping stress with feelings of well-being. However, CBD isn’t going to dramatically alter your mood, or make you act like someone else.
If you take the right dose, with the right product, CBD is a way to practice self-care. Instead of pushing yourself to get through the day with grit or caffeine, CBD offers a natural source of strength.
2. Difference Between CBD and THC With Your ECS
Next, it’s important to understand that both THC and CBD have the unique ability to influence your body’s endocannabinoid system or ECS. Your ECS is responsible for helping your body get through the day by sending out important signals. Things like your mood, appetite, immune responses, all rely on the endocannabinoids to send signals from your body to your mind.
All sorts of things can stimulate your ECS, such as tea, fatty acids, chocolate, herbs, and cannabis. However, while THC and CBD are both from the cannabis family, they have very different ways of interacting with your ECS.
THC and Your ECS
When THC enters your bloodstream, it binds to 2 important receptors in your ECS called CB1 and CB2. Both CB1 and CB2 respond to natural cannabis chemicals that your body produces. By binding to these natural cannabis chemicals in your system, your body’s ability to determine when it’s hungry, sleepy, and so on.
When THC binds to your CB1 and CB2 receptors, it pretends to be the naturally occurring cannabis chemicals your body has. By mimicking your body’s natural cannabinoids, THC can dramatically alter your mood, memory, and motor control.
CBD and Your ECS
Unlike THC, CBD doesn’t bind directly to your CB1 and CB2 receptors. Instead, CBD has a unique way of influencing your ECS, and researchers are still endeavoring to understand the details of the interaction. What is known is that when you take CBD it’s a way to help your body naturally balance things out.
3. Hormones Imbalances and Insomnia
Next, CBD is particularly helpful with fixing problems such as hormone imbalances or sleep issues. If you’re experiencing a hormonal imbalance, regularly taking CBD could help put your body back in a state of harmony.
Rather than mimicking cannabinoids, CBD can ECS to produce more or less of whatever hormone’s causing the imbalance. Another great example would be sleeping through the night.
Are you having trouble sleeping through the night? Roughly, 70% of Americans report not getting enough sleep regularly. Thankfully, CBD can help decrease the cortisol levels in your system, helping your body drift off to dreamland. As you reset your sleep schedule, you’ll make it easier for your body to enter a state of sleep in a shorter amount of time.
4. CBD vs THC for Skincare
Are you thinking about trying CBD to help with skincare? About 50 million Americans struggle with acne, and around 7.5 million have psoriasis. Thankfully, CBD could be the holistic answer you’ve been looking for to solve all of your skincare concerns.
How exactly does CBD make things better? Once again it has to do with CBD’s ability to influence your CB1 and CB2 receptors.
Acne and Psoriasis
Let’s say for instance someone has a severe case of acne. One of the biggest contributors to acne is the overproduction of sebum. Sebum is a naturally occurring oily substance that helps protect our skin from the outside world. However, if the body produces too much sebum, it can build up on the skin, clogging up your pores and causing acne.
Thankfully, CBD can help your body send out signals letting it know to slow down the production of sebum. As less sebum floods your skin, your pores can begin to clear, and your skin can fully heal! Another incredible benefit is the way CBD helps with skin conditions like psoriasis.
One of the biggest problems with psoriasis is the inflammation that goes along with it. Often from an overresponse in your immune system, your body sends out signals to attack healthy skin tissue. The attack on the healthy tissue causes inflammation.
Regularly taking CBD will help your body understand that it’s time to stop the attack. As your immune system’s restored to a state of balance, the inflammation can subside and the damaged skin can heal.
5. CBD Has to Be Taken Regularly
Another big difference from CBD to THC is the amount of time it takes to feel the effects. When you use a THC product for the first time, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll feel immediate effects. There are a few cases where people use THC and don’t feel anything.
However, oftentimes it’s due to a misunderstanding about how to use the product. For instance, if someone takes a very small dose of THC, or inhales it incorrectly, they may not feel any effects. However, when you take THC correctly, you will feel a major difference, and oftentimes within a matter of minutes.
CBD doesn’t work the same way. To get the best results from CBD, you need to take a consistent amount over a long period. Why? CBD works best when it has a chance to build up in your system. Remember, CBD doesn’t interact with your ECS in the way THC does, it’s much more gentle.
We suggest trying a consistent dose of CBD for at least 1 week before you try to determine if it’s helping you. Of course, as with any product you’re introducing to your body, play it safe and talk to your doctor first. Let your physician know that you’re thinking about trying CBD, and for how long you’ll be taking it.
6. Multiple Types of THC
Next, it’s important to note there’s more than 1 type of THC. The THC that gets you high is delta-9 THC. Eventually, delta-9 breaks down and becomes delta 8. If you’re interested in using more of the cannabis plant, without getting high, you need to learn more about delta 8 vs CBD.
Researchers are finding that delta 8 may be a lot like CBD, and could help with all sorts of health conditions. When you’re talking to your doctor, bring up delta-8 as well to find out if they think it could help you.
7. Can You Overdose on CBD?
Is it possible to overdose on CBD or THC? Yes. However, the experience of overdosing on CBD is a lot different than overdosing on THC.
For starters, there isn’t any strong evidence to show that overdosing on CBD or THC can be fatal. However, when you take too much THC, it can create all sorts of negative effects that might require medical attention. Taking too much THC can send users into a state of psychosis, extreme panic, or intense disorientation.
For example, there’s a popular story about a cop who ate too many pot brownies. The officer wound up calling 9-11 because he was certain he was dying (eventually he wound up being okay). If that same cop had eaten CBD brownies, he probably would’ve never called 9-11 and instead could’ve slept off the effects.
Taking too much CBD can cause issues such as diarrhea, dry mouth, and in some extreme cases vomiting. However, a CBD overdose isn’t likely to anything more than make you feel mildly uncomfortable until the effects wear off.
8. CBD and Stress
Are you thinking about trying CBD to help decrease the level of stress in your life? About one-third of Americans deal with chronic stress, and it can cause all sorts of health complications. To find relief a lot of people are turning to cannabis for the answers.
However, while CBD can be calming, using THC can have the opposite effect. While you might think of THC as being a calm substance, it’s quite stimulating. THC users can experience an increase in energy, extreme euphoria, and major mood changes after using THC.
In some cases, THC can even cause negative mood changes such as paranoia or anxiety. CBD, on the other hand, isn’t associated with any negative mood changes. Instead of altering your state of consciousness, CBD simply lets your body know it’s safe and can stop stressing out.
9. Is CBD Addictive?
One great thing about THC and CBD is that neither is known to be chemically addicted. However, THC can be habit-forming and in some cases develops into a marijuana use disorder. THC is easy to get mentally addicted to since it can alter your consciousness in such a major way.
People who abuse THC, tend to use it as a way to escape from the realities of everyday life. CBD, on the other hand, doesn’t hold the same risks. While it’s possible to become mentally addicted to virtually anything, it’s not likely you’ll develop a CBD addiction. Instead, it’s a lot more likely that CBD can help users battle addiction.
Earlier we mentioned the state of the country as far as the opioid epidemic is concerned. You’ll be happy to know that research is proving CBD can help individuals who are struggling to recover from opioid addictions. Instead of letting stress push recovering addicts back to using, CBD can help prevent a relapse from occurring by managing stress levels.
10. Cannabidiol vs THC Tolerance
Lastly, let’s talk about THC vs CBD oil, and whether or not you can build up a tolerance. When you regularly use THC, it’s easy to build up a tolerance. Tolerance means that users will need more THC to get the same effects they used to get from a little THC.
Another issue is that since THC mimics naturally occurring cannabinoids in your body, it can trick your body into ramping down the production of those cannabinoids. Since your body isn’t producing all of the cannabinoids you need to be healthy and happy, you can begin to rely on THC to simply feel normal.
Whereas CBD doesn’t mimic cannabinoids, so it’s much harder to build up a tolerance. Instead, the opposite seems to be true for CBD, and it’s possible it can cause a reverse tolerance. As more and more CBD builds up in your body, you may find you can take smaller doses and still get great results.
Is CBD Right for You?
There you have it, 10 of the biggest differences between CBD and THC. The next time you hear someone asking, “Does CBD oil make you high?”, you’ll already know the answer!
After reading this article, do you think CBD is something that could benefit you? If you want to give CBD a try for yourself, reach out to your doctor today. Find out if CBD will interact with any medications, and get their opinion about whether or not it’s the right choice for you. For more tips like these, check out the rest of this site.