Monthly Archives: April 2021

AUSTIN (KXAN) Several new efforts to provide mental health resources could be coming for Austins first responders.

In 2019, the Austin City Council directed city staff to study how to fill the gaps in mental health resources for EMS, fire and police personnel. On Monday, the Public Safety Commission approved the study results and the recommendations made for improvements.

A document provided during the meeting stated the commission believes that the mental and physical health of our first responders is key to the safety of the citizens of Austin.

They voted 6 to 1 to support the following efforts:

Regarding the department policies on CBD oil, the chiefs of staff of each agency noted their officers and employees are permitted to use legal hemp or CBD products. Still, the have to caution them against any product that could cause a random drug test to come back positive.

Reena Kaven, owner of Tribe CBD and Cannabinoids in North Austin, explained that some CBD products feature small, legal amounts of THC to help the CBD work better in the body. These are called full-spectrum products.

For mental health its especially important, whether its people with severe PTSD, she said. Use of CBD can lift the mood, help us focus, and relieve us of all the stress and anxiety of these every day bombardments of bad news.

She said shes aware of some first responders as customers and isnt shocked, given the high stress nature of their jobs. She often recommends products, however, with the THC fully extracted called broad-spectrum.

It can build up in your system overtime and pop a drug test positive, Kaven said.

Austin Fire Departments Chief of Staff Rob Vires noted, We did send a notice out to our department just making people aware, theres no regulation over CBD oil and theres no ability to tell the difference.

Kaven warned about illegal products, featuring more THC while masquerading as legal, making their way into Texas from states like California.

The key is education. You go into a store, and somebody knows what they are talking about and can provide you with this kind of information about full-spectrum or broad-spectrum, and how it would effect you in a drug test, she said, Then youll find a safe product.

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CBD oil, mental health days for first responders? Here are some resources Austin personnel could be getting - KXAN.com

Once viewed as a fringe substance, CBD has now made its way into the mainstream. Due to a continuing lack of FDA regulation, however, there are no overarching quality standards in the CBD industry.

As a result, its up to consumers to determine which CBD products are high-quality and effective. To make it easier for you to choose CBD oil brands that offer the best value and the safest products, we put together this detailed review of the best CBD brands of 2021 and beyond.

Lets start with a brief overview of the brands we chose. Well provide details on why we chose these brands as we proceed:

1. Best All-Around & Highest Quality: Colorado Botanicals

2. Best By Reviews: Medterra

3. Best Full-Spectrum: Nuleaf Naturals

4. Best Price: Bluebird Botanicals

5. Highest Concentration: cbdMD

The first five brands in our list might offer the best CBD products, but they arent the only high-quality options on the market. Well also briefly cover the following five brands in our review:

6. Cornbread Hemp

7. Spruce CBD

8. CBDistillery

9. Lazarus Naturals

10. Charlottes Web

11. CBDfx

Which Company Has The Best CBD Oil in 2021?

To find the best CBD oil companies on the market, we devised a set of criteria that we applied to each brand that we considered. Leveraging our own expertise and calling upon the insight of industry experts, we determined the value that each brand in our list provides by thoroughly evaluating the following factors:

There are dozens of different ways to make CBD, and some brands cut corners to boost their profits. We took dozens of different factors into account as we determined the overall credibility of each brand we reviewed.

These are just a few examples of the variables we used to determine brand credibility.

U.S. hemp is the highest-quality, and using hemp grown in the United States supports the domestic agricultural economy. Brands that used organically grown hemp cultivated in the United States received the highest grades.

We also took into account factors such as whether a brands hemp was U.S. hemp authority-certified or non-GMO. At this point, non-GMO hemp is the standard in the industry, so we disqualified brands that used hemp that was genetically modified.

There are a variety of solvents that brands can use to extract CBD from hemp. Some of these solvents are difficult to purge from finished products, however, and they can cause respiratory harm.

Carbon dioxide is widely recognized as the safest extraction solvent for hemp. As a result, brands that use CO2 extraction received high scores while brands that use butane, ethanol, or acetone extraction were penalized.

In lieu of FDA regulation, third-party lab testing has become the gold standard for determining a hemp products safety and quality. CBD products that have been third-party lab tested can be verified as not containing contaminants.

However, there are quite a few different third-party lab test providers on the market, and some are less independent than they seem. In addition to making sure that products were tested, we also looked at which company provided the lab tests for each of the hemp brands we examined.

You can learn a lot from how a CBD brand handles its customer service. Obviously, customers are better served by brands that respond quickly and offer courteous customer service.

If a CBD brands customer service is lackluster, however, that brand might also be lacking in other ways. We checked each brands customer service capabilities to determine its overall integrity and attention to detail.

Were no strangers to the CBD industry. Weve watched interest in CBD grow over the years, and weve observed the highest and lowest points in the industrys history.

Over time, the experts who put together this guide have had plenty of chances to compare and contrast CBD companies. Weve seen which companies have risen to the top, and weve seen how they achieved these results.

At the same time, weve become familiar with the most common points of failure within the CBD industry. We developed our evaluation criteria based on longitudinal research into the brand factors that are most likely to result in high-quality CBD products.

Without further ado, lets unveil the five brands that currently produce the industrys best CBD products. Each of these brands brings something different to the table, but they all offer high-quality, reliable CBD.

After extensively considering each brands benefits and detractors, we determined that Colorado Botanicals offers the best products for the most reasonable prices. This brand offers similar product types to major competitors, but it enhances these products benefits by tapping into the hemp plants true potential.

Colorado Botanicals is a smaller brand, so we were initially skeptical regarding how this company would hold up against bigger competitors. Every aspect of the Colorado Botanicals brand, however, met our strict criteria for excellence.

Here are some of the highlights of Colorado Botanicals that convinced us of this brands credibility:

Colorado Botanicals uses CO2 extraction to produce its broad-spectrum CBD oil products. Using an advanced distillation process that leaves terpenes intact while removing all traces of THC, Colorado Botanicals produces high-quality broad-spectrum distillate.

This distillate does not contain waxes, chlorophyll, or unnecessary lipids. It has a mild taste that is made even more pleasant by its high terpene content.

All Colorado Botanicals products contain broad-spectrum CBD oil. In contrast with full-spectrum CBD oil, this type of purified and refined CBD is entirely THC-free, assuaging potential concerns regarding THC contamination in CBD products.

Whats most impressive about Colorado Botanicals products is their high terpene concentrations. Often overlooked in the CBD industry, terpenes are beneficial substances found in Cannabis sativa that each have unique properties.

Its important to note that the terpenes found in Colorado Botanicals broad-spectrum CBD oil are not reintroduced into the finished product. Instead, they are the original terpenes present in the CBD-rich hemp flower that Colorado Botanicals cultivates.

Reintroduced terpenes can cause contamination issues, and they dont provide the same effects as terpenes that are naturally present in CBD extract. Were impressed that Colorado Botanicals knows the difference and only includes naturally occurring terpenes in its products.

Why are terpenes so important? Scientists believe that terpenes may contribute to the entourage effect, which is a theorized form of Cannabis sativa synergy that may occur when cannabinoids and terpenes are used together.

Initially believed to primarily apply to interactions between cannabinoids, researchers have now recognized that terpenes may be just as essential to the activation of the entourage effect. CBD products that contain terpenes may be more effective or provide more benefits than products that do not.

In addition to potentially contributing to the entourage effect, terpenes also have individual benefits. Found in many other plants aside from Cannabis sativa, terpenes have been studied for decades for their potential beneficial effects.

Heres some information on common hemp terpenes and the potential benefits they might bring to the table:

To give you an idea of just how seriously Colorado Botanicals takes terpenes, here are the results from one of this brands recent lab tests:

Since testing for terpenes is an added service, most CBD brands fail to determine the exact concentrations of terpenes present in their products. Colorado Botanicals, on the other hand, makes sure that their third-party lab tests contain detailed terpene information.

The price per milligram of CBD varies among Colorado Botanicals products. Well use this brands 1500mg CBD tincture as a baseline, however, since many brands produce similar tinctures.

This product presently costs $110, so the CBD in this tincture costs $0.073 per milligram. This price is standard within the industry, and Colorado Botanicals tinctures offer added value due to their terpene content.

Colorado Botanicals lab reports are available in PDF form in a public Google Drive folder that is linked on each product page. They test their products and extracts at FESA Labs and ProVerde Laboratories. They provide detailed information on the cannabinoid, terpene, and contaminant concentrations present in each product.

In our experience, Colorado Botanicals offered excellent customer support. This brand provides a contact form, email address, and phone number you can use to get in touch with customer service.

A representative answered the phone immediately when we called. We received a response to an emailed inquiry on the same day.

Colorado Botanicals has received ISO 9001:2015 certification for its production facility. This brand uses cGMP processes to produce its products.

Here are the highs and lows of this exemplary CBD brand:

Visit Colorado Botanicals by clicking here.

With more than 5,000 customer reviews, Medterra is one of the nations most popular CBD oil brands. The quality of Medterras CBD was exceptional, and we did like the cannabinoid content of their oil. They did contain higher amounts of cannabinoids than usually seen in CBD products. However, they didnt test for terpenes, which doesnt clarify if their extracts contain the terpene contents like Colorado Botanicals.

When testing out their CBD oil, we did notice it to be one of the most effective ones from this list, hence why we ranked it number 2 out of 10.

Medterra is certainly one of the most credible CBD oil brands. This companys site content is on-point, and Medterra provides plenty of information on each of the products it produces.

Medterra uses CO2 extraction to produce its products. Based on customer reviews and our own research, Medterra CBD is highly purified, and it doesnt contain any waxes, excess lipids, or chlorophyll.

Medterra used to offer full-spectrum CBD oil products. Nowadays, however, this brand only produces broad-spectrum CBD and CBD isolate products.

Medterra offers a 1000mg broad-spectrum CBD tincture for $59.99. As a result, this brand provides a CBD price-per-milligram of only $0.059, which is one of the lowest prices found in the industry.

Third-party lab reports from Green Scientific Labs are easy to find on each Medterra product page. While these reports include results for dozens of solvents and pesticides, they do not include results for terpenes.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that Medterra takes the benefits of terpenes very seriously. This lamentable perspective is also clear to see in Medterras CBD isolate products, which dont contain any terpenes whatsoever.

Medterra offers a live chat service. In our experience, however, customer service agents are rarely available for live chat. Instead, customers can contact Medterra by phone, email, or contact form.

Medterra products are U.S. hemp authority-certified. However, this brand does not provide any information certifications it may have achieved for its production facilities.

Here are the most important benefits and detractors of Medterra:

Visit Medterra by clicking here.

Full-spectrum CBD can be hit-and-miss, but some CBD users swear by the benefits of full-spectrum products. With more than 20,000 reviews, Nuleaf Naturals is the most popular provider of full-spectrum hemp products on the market, and we like the simplicity of this brands product lineup.

We noticed positive effects, and why it landed so high on the list despite the high cost it comes at.

Nuleaf Naturals is highly regarded, and this brands website is clean and simple. Its hard not to feel like a brand has credibility when it has accumulated so many positive customer reviews.

Nuleaf uses CO2 to extract its CBD, further improving our impression of this brand. This brand uses a type of full-spectrum oil called winterized CBD, which is more raw than refined.

Nuleaf Naturals products contain winterized full-spectrum CBD, which might appeal to some consumers since its so raw and unrefined. Winterized extract, however, contains waxes, chlorophyll, and other substances that might taste unpleasant or impair ingestion.

Nuleaf Naturals offers 1,800mg full-spectrum tinctures for $179. As a result, this brands CBD costs around $0.099 per milligram, one of the industrys highest prices.

Nuleafs lab reports are hard to find, and they arent product-specific. However, this brands third-party testing is provided by Botanacor, a reputable lab.

Nuleaf provides customer support via phone, email, and contact form. Our call was answered immediately since we called during business hours, but it took around 24 hours to receive a response to our email.

Nuleaf Naturals doesnt provide information regarding any certifications this brand might hold.

Here are what we considered to be the highs and lows of Nuleaf Naturals:

Visit Nuleaf Naturals by clicking here.

Bluebird Botanicals has been around since 2012, and this brand is still going strong. While the quality of the full-spectrum and CBD isolate products Bluebird Botanicals offers certainly seems satisfactory, we were more impressed by this brands prices.

If youre looking for quality CBD for the price, this is probably the best option. In terms of effectiveness when compared to other brands, it is one of the best.

Any CBD brand thats been around for more than eight years carries plenty of clout. While the Bluebird Botanicals website was relatively cluttered, it contained plenty of useful information, and this brand is highly transparent regarding where it sources its hemp and how it produces its products.

Bluebird Botanicals uses a mix of CO2 extraction and ethanol extraction. This brand then uses steam distillation to remove impurities from its extracts. Its unclear why Bluebird also uses ethanol if this company also has access to CO2 extraction facilities.

Most of the products Bluebird Botanicals offers include full-spectrum CBD. In contrast with Nuleaf, Bluebird uses distillation to remove impurities like chlorophyll from its CBD oil.

However, Bluebird leaves traces of THC behind in its extracts instead of choosing to produce broad-spectrum CBD. To boost its lineup with THC-free products, Bluebird also provides a few offerings that contain CBD isolate.

Bluebirds Extra Strength Classic CBD Oil tincture contains 1500mg CBD, and it costs $99.95. As a result, this products price-per-milligram is $0.066, making Bluebird Botanicals CBD highly affordable.

Instead of linking to lab reports on product pages, Bluebird provides them all on a single page, making it difficult to access the report youre looking for. This brand breaks its third-party lab results into multiple sections, making the process a bit more confusing.

However, Bluebird tests for terpenes, heavy metals, mycotoxins, and a variety of other variables. Even though the reports may be difficult to access, this brands lab reports are among the industrys most thorough.

We found Bluebirds customer service team to be highly accessible and responsive. This brand provides a contact form, a phone number, and multiple email addresses.

Bluebird Botanicals has received a number of certifications, including:

It does not appear, however, that Bluebirds production facilities have been ISO certified.

Heres what we liked and disliked about Bluebird Botanicals

Visit Bluebird Botanicals by clicking here.

cbdMD is known for its prominent partnerships with athletes and other celebrities. This brands products are so-so in terms of quality, but theyre offered for reasonable prices. cbdMD also offers the highest potency of CBD in a bottle with 7,500mg of CBD in a 30mL bottle.

The cbdMD website is remarkably well-built, and this brand produces informative content.

Read this article:

11 Best CBD Companies to Buy From in 2021: Honest Reviews & Guide - Observer