
It’s still unbelievable how fast marijuana has transitioned from being surrounded with skepticism and stigma to a multibillion industry. What seemed to be the worry of disheveled stoners is now in face creams, bath salts, candy, hummus, and water. Projections show that the UK cannabidiol (CBD) market will have reached $1.2 billion by 2025.
UK’s Medicines
The cradle of this massive growth can be traced back to 2016 when the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) decreed that all products that had CBD and were used for medical purposes were to be classified as a medicine. According to a Public Health Institute professor in substance abuse, Harry Sumnall, this focus from the government stirred national interest in CBD.
Saoirse O’Sullivan is a pharmacology professor and consultant. He says that a broader factor is the widespread acceptance of cannabis as a medicinal product, with its legalization in several countries as a prescription. CBD and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) are the two active components of cannabis. However, THC remains illegal in Britain and some of the other countries that have legalized CBD. Cannabis products can’t have more than 0.2% of THC.
UK market
Vantage Hemp is a Colorado-based company and one of the leading hemp suppliers for the UK market. Greeley, where the company’s headquarters are, is close to Denver. The city is traditionally based on gas, oil, and agriculture but welcomed cannabis with open arms. Vantage Hemp’s COO, Deepak Utkhede, says that Greeley voiced the wish to become the hemp hub of Colorado.
One of the company buildings, called Falcon, is a 35,000 square feet space where farmers deliver the hemp flower’s green needles (the biomass). They receive between 10 to 52 bags per truck. The take samples from each bag and test them in the lab. They test for potency, which must be at least 6% to 7% CBD per bag. Otherwise, it would be uneconomical.
From these samples, smaller samples are taken to third-party labs to test for potency, heavy metals, pesticides, and microbes. The tests give insight into how and where the biomass was grown and stored. Once Vantage receives the results, the biomass passes from quarantine into processing for CBD extract ion. The next part of the process is called decarboxylation. The biomass is heated in a commercial oven to effect a chemical change. The decarboxylases form of the substance is its physiologically active form.
Further testing is done on the biomass before feeding it into giant extraction socks. This is done so that the loose biomass doesn’t create a mess in the extraction area. The biomass socks are placed into extraction columns where they undergo separation from crude extraction through hydrocarbon or carbon dioxide extraction.
winterization
The crude extraction undergoes a process called ‘winterization’. Here, it is heated until liquefaction, injected into methanol within a tank, heated until it dissolved, before being chilled to negative 20 degrees Celsius. This results in an almost-solid slurry. You will be looking to have a clear solution if you want to create slabs, tinctures, and lotions.
Sock filters remove waxes and other impurities. A clear and thick solution – that doesn’t look like a paste – is the result. The methanol is then distilled off, leaving you with full-spectrum oil. It is in a ten to one ratio of methanol to oil. The oil still has illegal THC levels and must be diluted before transportation.
The oil is then distilled using a high vacuum and high temperature system to evaporate the oil before condensing it again. This process converts it from a hot dark mixture, close to black go a clear amber liquid. It resembles pasteurized honey.
CBD
The distillate now has between 75% and 85% of CBD content and is one of Vantage’s products. The final crystallization process purges everything that isn’t CBD, and you’re left with an off-white powder CBD isolate. It is 99.45% CBD, and you won’t find purer CBD.
Utkhede, the company COO, emphasizes that they don’t focus on food regulations only but pharmaceutical ones. They consider their CBD product a pharmaceutically active ingredient. Vantage Hemp does what most companies can’t – meet the UK’s Novel Foods standard.
These standards are crucial when it comes to the current CBD debates. As more CBD is prepared for pharmaceutical purposes, evidence is mounting that it treats various diseases, conditions, and disorders. These range from rare forms of epilepsy, brain cancer and muscle spasticity.
More evidence from randomized trials is also coming up supporting the therapeutic benefits of CBD. The trials use much higher concentrations of CBD than what’s in the high street products.
The foundation and best way to follow regulations is to safeguard products with professionally-produced compliant packaging. Taking the correct steps eliminates most of the issues that may arise in the future.
CBD as a novel food
The UK has one of the strictest regulations over the classifications of CBD as a novel food. It demands that the producers of such products provide data on their products. Since CBD is considered a medicinal product, retailers and manufacturers can only make claims for licensed and market authorized products.
CBD has become a massive industry, and Vantage Hemp is just one of the players. However, there isn’t indisputable evidence over whether all these CBD products work as most manufacturers and retailers claim. Sumnall decried the lack of research into the effects and efficacy against the claims made by some high street products. With the massive income and interest that CBD generates, such nonfeasance should be unacceptable.