A CBD product label tells you less than it seems to. This guide explains what full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, isolate and crude extract mean, how to read a lab certificate, why dose advice is imprecise, which medicines interact with CBD, and what the rules are in Thailand and the European Union.
CBD (cannabidiol) is a non-intoxicating compound from cannabis and hemp. Trials clearly support it for only one use: two rare childhood epilepsies, treated with pharmaceutical doses. The evidence for anxiety, sleep and joint pain is mixed, and the evidence for general wellness is weak. Only an estimated 6–19% of a swallowed dose reaches the blood.
Translator’s note: This article is educational material, not medical advice. If you supply hemp, CBD or CBG raw material, buyers judge your crop by the same lab certificate described here. Section 11 adds practical points for farms in Thailand.
This is Part 2. Part 1: CBD and Cannabinoid Wellness: What the Evidence Shows Beyond Medical Cannabis
5. Extract Types on the Label
These label terms describe how much of the plant’s chemistry is left after processing. Readers often ask about them, so each one is explained below.
Crude extract. This is the oil that comes out of the first extraction step, before anyone refines it or separates its compounds. It is the starting material for the other three types.
| Label term | What it contains | Possible advantage | Drawback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-spectrum | All the cannabinoids that occur naturally in the plant, including trace THC | May benefit from the entourage effect (a hypothesis, see Part 1) | Trace THC builds up with long-term, high-dose use and may show up in drug tests |
| Broad-spectrum | THC removed; the other cannabinoids and terpenes kept | A middle option for people worried about drug tests | Still not a fixed recipe; check the lab certificate |
| Isolate | Pure CBD, no other cannabinoids | Highest purity, lowest drug-test risk | May lack compounds that could add to the effect |
How much “trace THC” means depends on where the product comes from. Hemp grown in the EU may contain up to 0.3% THC. Thailand draws a 0.2% THC line for extracts.
Translator’s note: The 0.2% line has a licensing consequence in Thailand. Under the Ministerial Regulation on Cannabis or Hemp Extracts B.E. 2569, in force since 26 April 2026, extracts with more than 0.2% THC may be licensed only to three groups. These are Thai juristic persons that are not “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, state agencies, and the Thai Red Cross Society.
What you can do: if you face workplace drug tests, choose isolate or broad-spectrum, and check the THC result on the lab certificate for that batch. For any extract type, confirm the contents on the certificate, because the label term alone is not a specification.
6. Reading a Lab Certificate (Certificate of Analysis)
6.1 Why the certificate matters
A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is a lab report on one specific production batch. “Third-party” means the lab is independent and not owned by the maker or the seller. A reputable seller should give you a current third-party COA for every product.
In many countries, authorities do not test each batch of a supplement before it goes on sale. For that reason, the COA is your main quality check as a buyer. Be cautious with any product that has no current third-party COA.
A complete COA has four panels:
- Cannabinoid content: the actual amounts of CBD, THC and any other cannabinoids detected.
- Heavy metals: lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium. Hemp takes up contaminants from the soil it grows in.
- Pesticides: a screen for farm chemical residues.
- Microbes: counts of bacteria, yeast and mould.
6.2 The key numbers
Cannabinoid content. Take a bottle labelled “300 mg CBD” that holds 30 capsules. Each capsule should then contain 10 mg of CBD.
A difference of ±10–15% from the label is acceptable. A wider difference shows poor control in manufacturing, and anything more than 20% off is a concern.
THC should be below 0.2%. Check THC as an absolute amount, not only as a percentage. For example, 0.2% THC in a 1 g serving of oil is 2 mg of THC.
Heavy metals. Labs report these in parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb). One µg/g (microgram per gram) equals 1 ppm, which equals 1,000 ppb. Compare the results with these values:
| Metal | Upper value in hemp extract |
|---|---|
| Lead | Below 5 µg/g; ideally below 1 µg/g |
| Mercury | Below 1 µg/g |
| Arsenic | Below 3 µg/g |
| Cadmium | Below 0.5 µg/g |
Microbes. Labs count live microbes in CFU (colony-forming units). One CFU is one microbe or cluster that can grow into a visible colony on a test plate. Total yeast and mould should be below 10,000 CFU/g. Total aerobic bacteria (bacteria that grow in air) should be below 100,000 CFU/g. Aspergillus species should not be detected at all. Some Aspergillus moulds can produce toxins.
Pesticides. No listed pesticide should be detected above the lab’s reporting limit, which is the smallest amount the lab can reliably measure.
Translator’s note: The source material does not say where these reference values come from, so treat them as general guides, not Thai legal limits. Ask your laboratory and your buyer which limits apply to your product, and use a laboratory accredited for all four panels. Some testing options are discussed in Thai laboratories for export testing.
What you can do: before you buy or sell, check that the batch number on the COA matches the batch number on the product. Check the test date and the lab’s name. Then go through the four panels using the numbers above.
7. Warning Signs in CBD Marketing
Based on the current evidence, these claims should make you doubt a product:
- “Cures [disease name].” CBD cannot legally or factually be said to cure any disease. The only exception is where a medicine has pharmaceutical approval, such as Epidiolex for specific epilepsy syndromes.
- “100% bioavailable.” No CBD product taken by mouth or under the tongue absorbs completely. This claim is physically impossible.
- “No side effects.” CBD has documented side effects at doses that work. They include drowsiness, diarrhoea and, at high doses, raised liver enzymes.
- “Clinically proven” with no reference. Ask for the specific trial. Check that it was peer-reviewed, meaning other scientists checked it before publication. Check that it used the same dose and the same type of product.
Translator’s note: In Thailand, claims of medical benefit on CBD products remain strictly regulated. Label rules are covered in cannabis product labelling in Thailand. What members may post here is set out in the advertising and selling rules for Asiannabis.
What you can do: when you see one of these claims, ask the seller for the trial reference in writing. If none comes, do not repeat the claim to customers or online.
8. Doses: What Is Known and What Is Not
8.1 Why dose advice is imprecise
Wellness CBD is usually sold at 10–50 mg a day. That range comes from habit, from what products can be sold for, and from stretching trial data. It does not come from dose-finding studies in the healthy adults these products target. In some human studies, the effect on anxiety, sleep and pain did not rise steadily with the dose.
8.2 What is known
- Swallowed doses below 10 mg a day, at typical absorption, are probably too low to matter for most people.
- Pharmaceutical trials for epilepsy use 10–25 mg per kg of body weight per day. The Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut trials in Part 1 used 10–20 mg/kg. For an adult weighing 50–80 kg, 10–25 mg/kg works out at about 500–2,000 mg a day.
- So there is a large gap between pharmaceutical doses and supplement doses. Buyers should be aware of it.
- An earlier version of this article said that 150–300 mg a day has the best evidence for anxiety. The two latest reviews (Wang et al., 2024; Wilson et al., 2026) do not support any specific effective dose. Read 150–300 mg only as a range that some studies used. For example, in a study of 57 healthy men given a simulated public-speaking test, 300 mg reduced anxiety but 150 mg and 600 mg did not (Linares et al., 2019).
8.3 The starting schedule from the earlier version
The earlier version also gave a starting schedule. It has never been tested as a protocol. It is reproduced here so that you can discuss it with a doctor. Do not treat it as a prescription, and ask first if you take any medicine. Published guidance is summarised in start low, go slow.
- Start at 25–50 mg a day of swallowed CBD, from a product with a matching COA.
- Keep the same dose for 2–4 weeks before judging it. For most wellness uses, CBD does not act right away.
- If there is no benefit and no side effect, raise the dose by 25–50 mg every 2 weeks.
- Keep a short daily log of the symptom you want to change, your sleep quality and any side effects. With the log, you and your doctor can see whether anything really changed instead of relying on memory.
- If you take any prescription medicine, ask the doctor who prescribed it before you start.
9. Drug Interactions and Who Should Be Careful
9.1 How CBD interacts with medicines
The liver breaks down CBD using CYP450 enzymes, mainly CYP3A4 and CYP2C9. Many medicines are broken down by the same enzymes. At higher doses, CBD slows these enzymes down. As a result, CBD can raise or lower blood levels of other medicines.
Interactions that matter clinically have been documented with:
- Warfarin (a blood thinner): its blood level rises, so the risk of bleeding goes up.
- Clobazam and valproate (epilepsy medicines): their blood levels rise.
- Some immunosuppressants (medicines that damp down the immune system) and some heart medicines.
9.2 Groups who need extra care
- People taking blood thinners, epilepsy medicines or immunosuppressants. The interactions above are clinically significant.
- People with liver disease. The liver processes CBD, and higher doses can raise liver enzymes.
- Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. There are not enough safety data.
- People under 18. Their endocannabinoid system is still developing. Pharmaceutical CBD for epilepsy is justified because it is medically needed, but wellness use is not recommended.
More groups are covered in contraindications and cautions.
9.3 Where some trial evidence exists
The earlier version listed the people who might benefit. Read this list alongside the evidence grades in Part 1:
- Adults with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. The earlier version suggested 150–600 mg a day under medical supervision. The latest reviews disagree on whether CBD works, and neither supports a specific dose (see 8.2).
- People whose sleep is disturbed by anxiety. The evidence here is promising but not conclusive.
- People with inflammatory pain that standard treatment has not relieved enough. CBD would be used alongside proper medical care, not instead of it.
- People with epilepsy syndromes that do not respond to treatment. This means pharmaceutical-grade CBD under a neurologist’s care only.
What you can do: take the product label, its COA and a list of all your medicines to your doctor or pharmacist before you start.
10. The Rules
10.1 Thailand
Thailand’s rules for hemp and CBD products have changed many times since 2020, and they differ by product category. Before you make or sell a CBD food, cosmetic or supplement, check the current Thai Food and Drug Administration rules for that category, including its THC limit and the licence it needs. Claims of medical benefit remain strictly regulated.
The earlier version also gave four principles for any business that imports, distributes or sells hemp-derived products in Thailand:
- Buy only from licensed hemp growers or licensed extract makers.
- Keep a COA on file for every batch.
- Make sure THC stays within the limit set for your product category.
- Treatment claims need a specific product registration and clinical evidence. General wellness wording carries less compliance risk than treatment claims, but check the food advertising criteria B.E. 2569 before you use any wellness wording for CBD foods and drinks.
Translator’s note: The legal facts below have been checked against the primary sources.
- Cannabis flower is a controlled herb under the Notification of the Ministry of Public Health Re: Controlled Herbs (Cannabis), B.E. 2568, issued under the Thai Traditional Medicine Protection Act B.E. 2542. It has been in force since 26 June 2025.
- Flower may be sold only with a PT 33 (ภ.ท. 33) prescription, for a maximum of 30 days. Advertising and online sale of flower are prohibited.
- The Ministerial Regulation on Controlled Herbs (No. 2) B.E. 2569 has been in force since 30 April 2026. It tightens the licence criteria for cannabis flower.
- Under Section 78 of the 1999 Act, selling or processing a controlled herb without a licence carries up to 1 year in prison and/or a fine of up to 20,000 baht.
- The draft Cannabis Control Act is not law yet. The Cabinet approved the draft on 22 September 2026 and sent it to the House, so the rules may change again.
What you can do: before you sell any CBD product or raw material, write down which licence covers each step. Keep that list in the same file as the COA for every batch.
10.2 European Union and the Czech Republic
The EU allows industrial hemp to be grown from registered varieties with no more than 0.3% THC in the plant. That limit has applied since 1 January 2023; before then it was 0.2%. Since 1 January 2022, the Czech Republic has set a higher national limit of 1% THC in dried matter for technical hemp.
In the EU, CBD used in food or food supplements is a “novel food” under the EU Novel Food Regulation. A novel food is one that needs a safety assessment and authorisation before it can be sold legally. Enforcement varies between member states.
Czech rules follow the EU framework, with some national details. Several EU countries have their own enforcement approach while full harmonisation is still pending. The Czech Republic has historically taken a pragmatic approach to hemp products while staying within EU law.
Translator’s note: This matters for Thai exporters. An EU buyer of CBD extract for food use needs a legal route to sell it under the Novel Food Regulation. See raw CBD flower versus extract in European markets. What you can do: before any EU deal, ask the buyer in writing which authorisation the final product will be sold under.
11. For Growers Supplying CBD or CBG Raw Material
Translator’s note: This section applies the points above to farms in Thailand. Each step tells you something before the lab finds it on your COA.
- Confirm your licence first. Before you plant, confirm with the licensing authority which licence covers growing hemp or high-CBD/CBG varieties for extraction. This way you know whether your harvest can be sold at all.
- Test the soil before you plant. Hemp takes up lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury from the soil. A soil test shows whether a field could fail the heavy-metal panel before you invest a whole season in it.
- Spray only registered products. Use only pesticides registered with the Department of Agriculture (กรมวิชาการเกษตร), and follow the label. Residues show up on the buyer’s COA. See what you may legally spray.
- Plan drying for the rainy season. High humidity raises yeast, mould and Aspergillus counts, and an Aspergillus detection fails the batch. Dry quickly in a room where you control the humidity; see drying at 85–95% humidity.
- Link every harvest lot to its COA. Label each lot with a batch number and keep the matching certificate. A buyer can then trace any result back to a specific field and date.
- Leave health claims out of your sales talk. Point customers who ask about medical use to a doctor. This keeps you clear of the claim rules in section 10.1.
Summary
- Proven: CBD has a proven effect only in two rare childhood epilepsies, at pharmaceutical doses of 10–20 mg/kg/day.
- Mixed: the evidence for anxiety, sleep and inflammatory pain is mixed, and no effective anxiety dose has been shown.
- Overselling: the wellness market oversells the evidence, especially for low-dose products with broad health claims.
- Using CBD sensibly: understand absorption, buy only products with a third-party COA, compare doses with those used in trials, and check for interactions if you take medicines.
- For growers: your COA is your sales document. Soil, spray choice and drying decide what it shows.
If you have questions, COA results to discuss, or experience with hemp or CBG licensing in Thailand, post them below this topic.
References
- Millar, S. A., Stone, N. L., Yates, A. S., & O’Sullivan, S. E. (2018). A systematic review on the pharmacokinetics of cannabidiol in humans. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 9, 1365. Frontiers | A Systematic Review on the Pharmacokinetics of Cannabidiol in Humans
- Wang, J.-Y., Wang, P.-Y., Han, K., & Peng, Y.-C.-H. (2024). Therapeutic potential of cannabidiol (CBD) in anxiety disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research, 339, 116049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116049
- Wilson, J., et al. (2026). The efficacy and safety of cannabinoids for the treatment of mental disorders and substance use disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 13(4), 304–315. Redirecting
- Russo, E. B. (2011). Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects. British Journal of Pharmacology, 163(7), 1344–1364.
- Linares, I. M., Zuardi, A. W., Pereira, L. C., et al. (2019). Cannabidiol presents an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve in a simulated public speaking test. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 41(1), 9–14. https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2017-0015