Various sources and market analysts predict exponential growth in consumer sales of CBD-specific products in the US marketplace. Experts point to changing state and federal policies, as well as growing public familiarity and demand for CBD products as reasons to foresee continued rapid market expansion.

But these rosy economic outlooks largely avoid any mention of the elephant in the room; that is the reality that many commercially available CBD products – including and especially those available online – are of low or variable quality. In many cases, the potency of many of these products deviates from what is advertised. At worst, these products sometimes contain potentially dangerous additives that could jeopardize the health of the consumer.

Given these inconsistencies in quality and purity, it is possible – even likely – that many first-time customers could become disillusioned with CBD and not return to it. Even more problematic, future mainstream publicity of these issues could trigger a vocal and widespread public backlash against this emerging sector, influencing many would-be customers to never try the products at all.

Examples of poor quality CBD products are prevalent in the commercial marketplace. An October 2019 analysis of 30 CBD products obtained through leading online retailers by the watchdog group LegitScript.com reported that two-thirds possessed significant deviations in CBD content from what was advertised. Typically these products contained far lower percentages of CBD than the manufacturer promised — a finding that is woefully consistent with prior analyses of commercially available CBD products, such as those reported here, here, here, here, here, and here. In some cases, CBD-branded products available in the commercial marketplace have been found to possess no actual CBD.

Investigators also reported that some of the products evaluated in the LegitScript analysis tested positive for the presence of either solvent residue or elevated levels of heavy metals – findings that are also similar to those of prior reports, such as those here, here, and here.

Other third-party analyses of commercially available CBD products have identified even more problematic issues. Some products, for instance, have tested positive for the presence of THC despite being advertised as “THC-free” – an oversight that could put some consumers inadvertently at risk for the loss of employment (due to a drug test failure).

Most problematic of all, some commercially available CBD products have tested positive for the presence of added psychotropic adulterants – such as dextromethorphan or synthetic cannabinoid agonists. These latter agents, typically found in so-called ‘synthetic marijuana’ illicit products like Spice, can lead to serious adverse health consequences.

Such deviation in the quality of commercially available CBD products is rapidly creating a ‘buyer beware’ environment for consumers. And while this situation arguably calls for the imposition of ‘best practices’ standards to better regulate and govern the production and marketing of CBD-specific products, it is clear that the creation and imposition of such quality controls and oversight – particularly at the federal level – is likely many years away. This means that, in the interim, the industry must do a better job policing itself.

One way to do so would be to create an industry-wide recognized ‘seal of confidence’ that could be branded upon products that have submitted, and passed, lab testing procedures and standards approved by leading industry trade groups. Another way would be for the industry to publicly call out bad actors – those promoting low quality or fraudulent CBD products — so that the actions of a few do not taint the industry as a whole.

For years, many producers of commercially available CBD products have navigated in a grey area of the law. But times have changed. Now, while the industry awaits regulatory oversight from the FDA, it needs to begin proactively cleaning up its own house in order to increase the sort of consumer satisfaction and confidence necessary to enjoy a prolonged impact in the legal marketplace.