Does CBD oil get you high? Nope! There are many reasons why CBD oil and other CBD products can’t get you high. Keep reading to learn about the top reason why that is.
What being high actually is
Before we answer the question “Does CBD oil get you high?,” let’s figure out what exactly “high” means. What we refer to as being ‘high’ is really just a different, unfiltered version of our regular perception. Sci-fi writer Aldous Huxley explains it pretty well:
“Each person is at each moment capable of remembering all that has ever happened to him and perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe. Our normal brain function helps protect us from being overwhelmed and confused by this mass of largely useless and irrelevant knowledge, by shutting out most of what we should otherwise perceive or remember at any moment and leaving only that very small and special selection which is likely to be practically useful. According to such a theory, each one of us is potentially Mind at Large.”
While CBD oil doesn’t instill a psychedelic high, it does alter perception. Despite what so many CBD oil manufacturers claim, CBD oil is not non-psychoactive:
Found in other conventional restaurants as well as cafes, coffee shops, bars, and even pet stores, CBD hemp plants (cannabidiol) does not contain the psychoactive properties of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the primary active ingredient found in marijuana.
This definition just doesn’t line up with the real-world experiences of millions of CBD users. Ask them for yourself and they’ll report that CBD reduced their anxiety or helped them focus better. It clearly affected their mind and behavior — making it psychoactive by definition!
Cannabinoid expert and pediatric neurologist Dr. Ethan Russo agrees. According to him, “CBD must be considered psychoactive because of its ability to act as an anti-anxiety agent and an antipsychotic agent.”
But CBD’s psychoactivity isn’t a bad thing. It won’t impair your ability to take care of your children or safely drive your car. In fact, its existence might make it easier to be productive in your tasks or enjoy life at home.
CBD Oils: psychoactive…but not psychotropic
It’s not hard to notice CBD’s health benefits. The tiny molecule has a big impact on overall health, and it’s adaptive, too — rebalancing deficiencies when and where they occur, but only as needed. The list of things CBD’s good for just keeps getting longer, all thanks to its interaction with the endocannabinoid system.
Some of these benefits, though, are a little more subtle. For example, CBD helps promote healthy gut flora. That’s something you probably won’t notice after taking the compound for only a few days. But it’s still there, working behind the scenes to alleviate underlying issues.
Scientists are only beginning to fully understand CBD’s pharmacology, and the same goes for the status of gut health research, another newer field. What they’ve uncovered so far, in the space between the two fields, is pretty interesting.
In the past decade or so the importance of gut health has become a hot topic. It’s likely that you (or someone you) know takes probiotics for their digestive health. What’s less well known is that the microbes in your gut play a huge role in determining what goes on in your brain.
Does CBD get you high? CBD and the gut-brain axis
This connection is referred to as the gut-brain axis; some researchers even go so far as to call the digestive tract the second brain.
So, let’s say you have anxiety. If you’ve started taking CBD for it, you’ve probably noticed mental improvements already. You may feel calmer or more relaxed in social situations. It’s true that this can be explained via CBD’s stabilization of serotonin and dopamine receptors in the brain. But is there something more going on?
Modern science says yes. Most of the body’s serotonin is actually made in the digestive tract, not in the brain, thanks to the combined efforts of gut microbes and host endocrine cells. Researchers trying to reverse-engineer the causes of anxiety keep being pointed to clues, not in the brain, but in the gut! The theory so far: inflammation in the digestive tract invariably leads to inflammation and uneasiness in the brain.
But endocannabinoid receptors can be found in the digestive tract, too. These receptors actually modulate their own activity as needed — meaning someone with GI issues will have more localized CB2 receptors than someone who doesn’t.
Does CBD get you high? No, but it could help you heal
The question is, are you feeding them? If you’re not taking CBD and making every effort to live a healthy lifestyle, then the answer is probably not. When CBD is taken, though, it has powerful effects on the digestive tract. It helps seal up the tract’s lining, which means reduced ‘leaky gut’ and maybe even reduced food intolerances. The plant compound is strongly antibacterial, too, especially in its raw form. These actions could easily explain CBD’s popularity among those with anxiety.
The scope of gut health’s importance doesn’t stop with anxiety, though. Neither does the importance of the Endocannabinoid System. Interconnecting with the gut’s enteric nervous system, the brain’s central nervous system, and everything in between, it’s fitting that the ECS has been described as “a literal bridge between body and mind”.
Does CBD get you high? No, but it could boost mental health
To answer the question “Does CBD oil get you high?”, let’s go beyond the pure science of CBD for a moment. Are you operating on a higher plane? If you take a look at your own life, do you feel stuck, or are you gaining energy and gathering traction? If there’s still lots of room for improvement, don’t worry!
After all, the compound is amazingly supportive of all aspects of mental health — not just anti-anxiety ones. Research so far has identified clear links between CBD, reduced depression, and improved cognitive function. The anecdotal reports get even better: many people who use CBD for the first time report a slight shift in their awareness towards hope and clarity.
Could the gut microbiome play a role in this, too? It’s not unlikely. As Socrates said, “all disease begins in the gut”. The interplay between everything here is impressive — and still mostly elusive to science. It’s almost as if the endocannabinoid system is a physical and emotional web, a structure through which energy and improvements can flow.
Does CBD get you high? Nope…but it’s still metaphysical
In some ways, CBD’s wide array of benefits borders on the metaphysical. It’s not that surprising that ancient cultures viewed hemp as a sort of spiritual sacrament. These cultures caught on to the plant’s therapeutic potential without the need for research studies or regulatory approval.
And it wasn’t just one or two people groups, either; ancient cultures flocked to hemp in droves. Cannabis plants and hemp plants were so prevalent among the Chinese, they even have a letter (and accompanying deity) named after it; meanwhile, ancient Hebrews used hemp in their most important anointing ceremonies. Going back to Eastern cultures, the Buddha himself was reported to occasionally cleanse by eating nothing but hemp and marijuana plants seeds.
CBD’s implications on spirituality are just as strong today. CBD has helped us meditate, recenter, and remain calm even in the face of stress. With this awakening comes other things, too, like better sleep and more enthusiasm for life. If that sounds like something you’d like, too, then consider incorporating CBD into your wellness routine. It just might be transformational to your mind, body, and spirit.
Does CBD get you high? No…it’s not psychotropic
As mentioned above, CBD has psychoactive effects but is not psychotropic. In other words, it is indeed active within your mind, much like caffeine or other adaptogens could be. But it’s not psychotropic — it doesn’t cause euphoria, psychedelic experiences, or hallucinatory effects.
Thus, instead of wondering “Does CBD oil get you high?”, you can safely enjoy CBD’s form of upliftment as you go about your day. You can take CBD and proceed to safely drive, have a productive day at work, or spend quality time with your children. CBD really does make a great addition to daily life!
Does CBD oil get you high? No…it doesn’t bind to CB1
But why isn’t CBD psychotropic? To answer that we have to get a little technical. CBD isn’t psychotropic because it doesn’t bind to the endocannabinoid receptors within your brain (the CB1 receptors) that alter perception. Only THC can do that. CBD, on the other hand, only binds to CB2, meaning it benefits your peripheral body without causing any wild mental effects.
Does CBD e-liquid get you high?
No, CBD e-liquid does not get you high. If you’re experiencing such effects from e-liquids or vapes, you may have got a subpar product laced with additives! Do CBD gummies get you high? Nope! CBD gummies are neither powerful enough nor high enough in THC to get you high. Does CBD hemp oil get you high? CBD-rich hemp oil doesn’t get you high either? Don’t forget, however, that this product can still feel gently uplifting.
CBD oil: does it get you high?
Nope — no amount of CBD oil is capable of getting you high. Do CBD edibles get you high?
No, CBD edibles cannot possibly get you high. The fact that a CBD edible gets converted into different cannabidiol metabolites once ingested, however, means that it can feel much different than conventional CBD oils or tinctures.
Hemp-derived CBD products: helpful info
How does CBD oil make you feel?
In a word: great! Most people find CBD oil makes them feel subtly centered and uplifted. What does Hemp-derived CBD oil make you feel like? Happy, calm, secure, blissful, confident, energized, mobile, hopeful, and more. CBD oil almost always makes you feel good. If you’re not experiencing the difference, consider slowly upping your CBD oil dose.
Not normally. If your CBD oil is giving you wonky effects, consider lowering your dose or even taking up microdosing. Does CBD oil make you feel anything? Yes, it usually does!
Another reason for confusion
Another reason why people wonder about CBD’s mental effects? They’re unsure about the difference between hemp and marijuana
To highlight this difference we’ll need to go over some history. When it comes to cannabis, all is not always what it seems. Our goal here is to clear up the confusion that’s gradually spread over this plant’s past for the last, well, 80 + years.
Back to history: Is CBD legal?
For millennia, the cannabis plant was used as food, medicine, fiber. It generally took on a name that started with c or k — among the ancient Hebrews, the plant was called kanesh bosem, for example. Kanesh, canna, kane…not so different, right? Etymologically speaking, that was the precedent.
But this all changed in the early 1930’s. At that time, cannabis or hemp plant use was pretty well established in America and abroad. Less than a century ago, cannabis was a favored treatment for a variety of medical and mental conditions. It was praised by industries and governments. It was widely grown by American farmers, especially in Kentucky, for textile use.
And then a smear campaign began. Powerful interest groups from the paper industry joined forces with government agents to outlaw cannabis. But in order for cannabis to eradicate it from the US, the plant first had to be re-branded. The term “cannabis” was known, trusted; accepted, for the most part.
But the term ‘marijuana’, a Spanish equivalent, was different. It sounded unknown and dirty, at least to a culture that was somewhat eugenically inclined. Propaganda, after all, is always powered by fear.
So cannabis was made illegal by a semantical slight of hand. Smaller courts protested, even the American Medical Association protested. But it wasn’t enough. Throughout the 20’s and 30’s, regulations tightened. In 1937, ‘marijuana’ was finally deemed completely illegal to possess or use.
With that, pharmaceutical-grade tincture production ceased. Industrious hemp farms were shut down. And federal agents went so far as to physically chop down wild-growing cannabis plants!
From that point forward, the plant entered its own sort of dark ages. Research largely halted, even despite the discovery (discoveries) of the first cannabinoids. The idea of cannabis having healthful benefits faded almost entirely out of public awareness. Those who continued to use or smoke the herb were pushed into a sort of fringe, countercultural culture.
Fast forward to the ‘60s and things had rebounded a little, at least overseas. A young Israeli chemist was stumbling upon some very interesting stuff in his thesis research. He was compiling a team, too, to help him study the cannabis plant. This chemist, named Raphael Mechoulam, would eventually discover both THC and CBD and settle the debate over CBD’s mental effects once and for all!
Summing things up
Does CBD oil get you high? We hope that we’ve provided enough information for you to make an informed decision on this. At Unabis we believe every person has the power to improve their health. Providing premium CBD products that get you healthy — not high — is what we’re all about.
We also believe your well-being, wellness, harmony, and happiness are closer than you might think. You might be only one step away from complementing your everyday routine with premium, safe, and effective CBD products for living in your best health possible.
Click here to check out our uplifting, not intoxication, selection of CBD oils and other products.
