How Long Does CBD Stay In Your System – Blood, Saliva, Urine, Body?

Maybe you are trying CBD for a while now, whether it’s for your own personal well being or to cater the recommendation from a friend or acquaintances. Now you are feeling fearful about a drug test and you want to know “how long does CBD stay in your system?”

CBD usually stays and can be detectable via blood or urine for upto 5 days of initial consumption. But that number of days also varies from person to person. As individuals we all have our own unique absorption capabilities. Taking that scenario into consideration, we can say CBD may stay in your system for weeks if not months.

The good news for you though, most urine tests do not even look for CBD in the first place. Rather they look for a compound called THC and that can show up when your body metabolizes THC. If you are using a CBD product that doesn’t contain any THC (i.e.: CBD isolate and broad spectrum CBD products) at all, you can rest assured that you won’t come up with a positive drug test result.

However, that is not the case with full spectrum CBD products. In full spectrum CBD there is a trace amount of THC present. The legal threshold is 0.3%. But no matter how small the amount of THC content there is, it can show up in drug tests. This can be particularly a troublesome situation for you, if you are trying to get a job where you need to go through the drug screening process.

There is a misconception among people that CBD and THC are both the same. Actually they are not. Although both are extracted from the same cannabis plant. THC is the compound responsible for creating mind altering psychoactive effects. While CBD has no such properties.

So, there is no simple answer to this question “how long does CBD stay in your system?” The answer depends on a number of factors that we have to take into consideration. Factors like, are you taking full spectrum CBD? How much are you taking everyday? Your way of consumption ( i.e.: tincture, spray, gummies etc.)

Well keep reading as we will go through all of it. And you will be able to find an answer to this very question of this article based on your own unique scenario.

Factors that affect how long does CBD stay in your system

There are a limited number of researches available on “how long does CBD stay in your system”. Also it depends on a number of other factors. Some of these factors are “method of administration” “frequency of use” “dosage” “your body’s metabolism” etc. A review from 2018 found that CBD has a half life of 2 to 5 days for regular oral administration,  1.4 to 10.9 hours for spraying and 31 hours for smoking. Keep in mind, these are not the time frames of how long you will feel the effect of CBD, rather they refer to how long it is detectable in your bloodstream.

Method of Administration

You have to take a certain amount of CBD for it to have any effect on you. Based on your method of administration, much of it can be absorbed or lost. When you swallow the compound, it goes through your liver and almost 95% never reaches your bloodstream. The term bioavailability refers to the fact that how much of a compound is absorbed in the bloodstream. CBD has the highest bioavailability when you smoke or vape it. The second method of administration that ensures maximum bioavailability is to apply it sublingually with a CBD oil tincture dropper.

When you inhale CBD it reaches your brain almost immediately and you can feel the pronounced effect. You will also notice the therapeutic effects eventually from every other form of consumption. So, the amount of CBD you are going to absorb determines the time it lingers in your system.

Frequency of Use

How often you use CBD aka your frequency of usage also plays a dominant role on “how long does CBD stay in your system?”. If you use CBD on a regular basis, it can increase the time it takes for your body to process CBD. As a result, CBD may build up in your body and stay in your system for a long time. It is recommended you use CBD at a regular interval, for example, once a week. If you try CBD periodically, it will enable your body to clear CBD from your system.

Your Body

Although we all belong to the same species, we all have our own unique identity. As a matter of fact, how CBD or any other substances will affect someone, varies from person to person. CBD is fat soluble and you can store it in your body’s fat cells. There, your BMI (Body Mass Index) plays a crucial role on how quickly you can metabolize CBD. A person with a lower BMI will metabolize CBD more quickly than a person with higher BMI.

Your Diet

How long CBD will stay on your system also depends on your food habit. When you eat, how much you eat and what you eat can make a whole lot of difference in your body’s capability to absorb and metabolize CBD. For instance, if you take CBD in an empty stomach, it metabolizes a lot quicker than a full stomach. How quickly our body can process CBD depends on how busy it is on processing other foods we consume. So, we can say for sure how quickly CBD will be removed from our body also depends on what we eat everyday.

So, How long does CBD stay in your System?

The answer varies on all the same factors we discussed above. Your body composition, your method of administration, your dosage all play a vital role in order to determine how long CBD stays in your system.

Therefore, CBD activation time varies from one to one. In general, you are supposed to feel the effects within 30 minutes of oral or sublingual administration. However, it can take 1-2 hours in some cases and the effects usually wear off within 6 hours. Whether you are feeling the effect or not, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your body has got no CBD at all.

To give you a definite answer to this question, we need more research to take place. The data we have in our hand right now suggests that CBD will not stay in your system for more than 7 days. Considering the fact that you are not a regular user. In case of regular consumption, CBD can stay in your body for several weeks.

In a 1991 study, 14 Huntington’s patients were administered with daily high dosage of CBD (700mg/day). The test subjects were taking CBD for 6 weeks straight. When the subjects were tested after 1 week of non-use, it showed only an insignificant amount of CBD (1.5ng/ml) in their bloodstream. Which was nearly an undetectable amount.

Will CBD show up on Drug Tests?

CBD does not generally show up on a drug test, provided that your CBD product doesn’t have any THC at all. But if you are using a full spectrum CBD product which does contain a trace amount of THC (0.3% or less), it will show up on drug tests. THC is the main mind altering intoxicating compound found in cannabis plants i.e.: marijuana plant.

Many of the CBD products found in the market are full spectrum, meaning they contain THC along with CBD and other cannabinoids. If you are concerned about a positive drug test, you have to avoid products of this extract type altogether.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the 3 main extract type of CBD:

1. Full-spectrum CBD: Products of this extract type contain all the plant compounds that are there at the time of manufacturing. This includes THC, which is the psychoactive compound. Full spectrum CBD products contain up to 0.3% THC to help its users get the entourage effect. This little amount of THC will not create any high, but can be detectable via a drug test.
2. Broad-spectrum CBD: Broad spectrum CBD products go through further processing steps at the time of manufacturing to eliminate THC from the other plant compounds. Theoretically, a broad spectrum CBD product should not contain any THC at all. But some manufacturers can not achieve such clarity and may have THC content in their broad spectrum CBD products. So, you have to choose your broad spectrum CBD product from a well reputed brand and also check the product COA (Certificate of Analysis). So that, you can make sure the broad spectrum CBD product you are going to buy doesn’t contain any THC at all.
3. CBD Isolate: Products that fall in this extract category contain no other cannabinoids (plant compounds) except CBD. CBD aka Cannabidiol is the only cannabinoid present in CBD isolate products. Like broad spectrum CBD, you can try CBD isolate products without the fear of a positive drug test. To separate CBD from all other plant compounds, it needs to go through a series of extensive extraction processes. Hence, CBD isolate products usually have a higher price tag than full spectrum CBD products.

Related: If you are worried about Drag Test, you may try CBD without THC.

Also make sure your CBD product is hemp-derived. The 2018 farm bill legalized hemp derived CBD products in all 50 states in the USA. Since you want to avoid a positive drug test, ignore marijuana derived CBD products altogether. You can figure out the extract type of your CBD product by looking at the product label. Most brands mention the terms “broad spectrum” “full spectrum” “isolate” on product labels.

Bottom line

By now, we hope you have a clear understanding of the answer for the question “How long does CBD stay in your system?”. It widely varies from person to person. With the right information in your inventory, we believe you can take necessary steps to safely carry on your exposure with CBD. Although we are at the beginning phases of research concerning this compound CBD, we can scientifically say that CBD is safe and doesn’t have any intoxicating properties.

We at MEDOSI share informative articles on CBD (Cannabidiol) and CBD products. Read our blog to learn more about this compound and make informed purchase decisions. You can also check our online store to purchase a wide range of CBD products, we have to offer. We ship our products all across the United States via USPS.