The honest guide

What is CBD?

A plain explanation of the plant, the market that grew up around it, and how to judge any hemp cream before you spend a dollar. No claims, no promises, just what is true.
The plant

The plant that got banned by accident.

Hemp is one of the oldest crops humans grow. Rope, sails, paper, cloth. Ships crossed oceans on hemp canvas. Then in 1937 it got swept into the marijuana ban even though hemp cannot get anyone high, and for eighty years one of the most useful plants in agriculture was illegal to farm in America.

In 2018, Congress made hemp legal again. Everything on this page follows from that.

Hemp. Stems and leaves, grown in rows like any other crop.
The compound

What CBD actually is.

CBD is a compound the hemp plant makes. It is not intoxicating. It comes in three forms.

Isolate is that one compound on its own, with everything else stripped away. Full spectrum keeps everything the plant makes, including a trace of THC. Broad spectrum keeps the plant’s compounds and has the THC removed during processing.

There is also a trap worth knowing about. Hemp seed oil is a cooking oil pressed from seeds. It costs a few dollars a bottle, it is sold in packaging designed to look like hemp extract, and it contains no CBD at all.

The market

Then came the gold rush.

The day hemp became legal, thousands of products appeared. Anyone could print a big number on a jar and sell it. Most people buying had no way to check.

In 2017, researchers published a study in a major medical journal. They bought 84 CBD products online and had every one lab tested. About seven in ten did not contain what their labels claimed. Roughly a quarter had less than promised. Some contained THC that was not on the label at all.

Nothing about the market forced that to change. Independent lab testing is the only thing that ever settled what is actually in a jar, which is why the next part matters more than any promise a company makes. Including ours.

The only referee this market has ever had: an independent lab.
The standard

How to judge any hemp cream in one minute.

Five checks. They work on any jar, from any company. Ours included.
Read the extract line
It should say hemp extract and say which kind. If it says hemp seed oil, you are buying cooking oil.
Do the math

Divide the milligrams by the grams. Now you know what is actually in each fingertip instead of what is printed on the front.

Find the report

An independent lab report for the batch, posted where you can read it. A badge that says lab tested is not a report.

Look at the base
Most of any jar is the cream itself, so find out what kind of cream it is. That is what your skin is actually getting.
See if they show you everything

The full ingredient list, the report, and where it is made. A company hiding one of those is usually hiding the other two.

Where we stand

Golf Rx, on all five.

The extract. Broad Spectrum Hemp Extract, printed on the label.

The math. 3,500 mg in a 57 gram jar. That is 61.7 mg of hemp extract in every gram. Check it yourself.

The report. Every batch tested by an independent lab, report posted with the THC line on it.

The base. A liposomal cream base, the first three words on the ingredient list.

What we show you. All twenty two ingredients, the reports, and where it is made. Colorado, from Colorado grown hemp, the same way for ten years.

Take the label and the lab report to your doctor. We built them to be read.

One jar, one formula, unchanged for ten years.

References

Bonn-Miller MO, Loflin MJE, Thomas BF, et al. Labeling Accuracy of Cannabidiol Extracts Sold Online. JAMA. 2017;318(17):1708-1709.

Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-334 (the 2018 Farm Bill).

Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, Pub. L. No. 75-238.