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Is CBD Safe For Children?

As with any medicine, beverage, supplement or food you as a parent choose to give your child, you must understand all of the risks and benefits.

Choosing CBD for Your Child from Natural Path Botanicals creating organic CBD from family farms in Colorado. Made in the USA. 

First and most important: CBD does not make you high or get your high. The legal level of THC in CBD oil and hemp oil in the US is .3%. CBD is a compound that is extracted from the hemp plant. The hemp plant and the marijuana plant are the same species grown and adapted for different properties.

Hemp is bred to grow tall and skinny to harvest for its fibers (cloth, for instance) whereas marijuana is grown for its ability to produce the substance that makes you high (THC). THC is found in the flower of the marijuana plant, so these plants are shorter and leafier with an abundance of flowers. You can obtain hemp for commercial use in liquid form, in gummies and topicals (like a lotion). Hemp oil and CBD oil are essentially synonymous. 

More and more parents are turning to this nature-derived compound for use in the treatment of different conditions effecting children. Most CBD is available without a doctor's prescription, though one type, Epidiolex, is used for severe forms of epilepsy in children.

There are also reports of parents choosing CBD to treat conditions in their children like anxiety and ADHD or ADD. Some families with autistic children also use CBD to treat and lessen autism symptoms.

The truth is: there hasn't been extensive study for the safety or effectiveness of CBD on and in children. As with any treatment (medical or natural), it is imperative that parents make decisions for their children that they fully understand.

What to Avoid in terms of CBD and Children

In order to avoid giving THC (the compound that makes you high which is derived from the marijuana plant) to your children, always opt for isolate CBD rather than full-spectrum CBD, whether it’s hemp-derived or marijuana-derived. That said, there is no precise way to ensure there is absolutely no amount of THC in CBD oil.
 
There is only one FDA-approved medication made with CBD for use in children to treat two severe epileptic seizures. They are rare types of seizures: Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes. 
 
There are ongoing studies looking at the effects of CBD oil treatments for children with autism, anxiety, ADHD, insomnia, PTSD and other ailments.
While marijuana has been used for hundreds of years, CBD oil and hemp oil are quite new. There just hasn't been enough time to test its effectiveness on children (or adults for that matter) and to study the long-term effects of its regular use.
 
As with any new food, medicine or complementary wellness approach, move forward with caution. There is no way to have complete confidence in the use of CBD for your child. As with some medications, the symptom you are trying to treat or lessen can sometimes become enhanced or extreme. 
In fact, labeling is one of the biggest issues for users of CBD, whether adult or children. The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study showing grave inaccuracies among an array of CBD products. Some had much less CBD than the bottle stated, others had much more.

Choosing CBD for Children

If you have done your due diligence, read research studies from credible sources and are ready to choose CBD for your child, consider these steps:
  • READ LABELS. Study the amount of CBD that is recommended per dose. 
  • KNOW THE SOURCE. Learn precisely where the plants that provide your CBD are grown. They should be grown with organic practices free of pesticides and toxins. 
  • DEMAND 3RD PARTY TESTING. Search for CBD oil from brands that undergo third-party testing. You should be able to verify lab results of those tests. Here are the certification labs to trust:
    • Association of Official Agricultural Chemists
    • American Herbal Pharmacopoeia
    • US Pharmacopeia

Talk to your child's doctor before beginning any new treatment whether CBD oil or supplements. 

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