USA Today Work Story Raises So Many Issues…

According to an article recently published by USA Today, Jeanette Hales, a 58-year-old former school bus driver in Salt Lake County, Utah, was forced to resign from her job because she tested positive for THC in a random drug test. Yet, Hales says she doesn’t consume or smoke marijuana. Rather, she had been taking CBD to help her sleep and to relieve stress. 

Cue sarcasm – how could this possibly happen? Omg! Shocker!

USA Today’s editors likely heard about Hales’ sad story, saw its potential click value, and sent its ace retail(?) reporter Charisse Jones to Salt Lake to cover it, even though Charisse basically has zero CBD or THC knowledge. Just check out her article archive! The poor woman can’t be an expert at anything if she’s too busy being forced into a Jackie of All Trades role.

Unfortunately, that’s the state of today’s media – a tiny workforce of reporters who don’t demand high salaries or healthcare benefits hacking away at multiple beats, bereft of all the luxuries their predecessors enjoyed. The most important of their benefits that’s been lost over the last decade? The benefit of ‘owning’ a singular beat and understanding the topic at hand as well, or better than the experts quoted. Therefore, it would be awesome if every American today would start learning to take our nation’s news with a grain of salt.

As a result of USA Today’s haphazard investment in a click-bait headline and topic, covered by a reporter in unfamiliar waters, the story is not only poorly written (editorializing as you can see below), but also fails to lay out the reality of CBD, THC, efficacy and related regulations. Here’s a scary excerpt:

Hales, who drove a school bus for 11 years, did her homework before starting to use CBD.

Though the product did not say it contained THC on its label, she went to the brand’s website and learned it contained 0.1% of that compound, which she says was below the level permitted by the state. 

And while CBD was never mentioned in the required drug and alcohol awareness class she and colleagues took, Hales says she checked with her trainer, who told her that using CBD products would not cause her to fail a drug test.

A clerk at the store where she purchased the capsules also told Hales the company that made them tested its own employees after they used the product. None of the results came back positive.

There is so much wrong going on here. Let’s break it down for those poor folks who work for employers that still drug test for THC:

1. Perhaps Hales knew that the presence of THC as an active component in CBD products (eg. Full Spectrum) works better than those CBD products sold minus any THC, and was willing to take the risk it wouldn’t cross the line in terms of violating her employment? Pretty risky. My pilot friends see the benefits of CBD in pain relief, but then stay away from it because they know if they ingest Full Spectrum CBD that has a trace amount of THC could show up on a random drug test. They don’t want to lose their jobs so they simply stay away from all CBD solutions.
2. The store that claimed they tested its employees after they took the same CBD Hales purchased, and that the tests were negative? Testing on employees? We don’t go there. Don’t trust any retailer who is willing to put their own employees under the microscope. Is that legal in Utah?

Reputable and knowledgeable retailers tell their customers the truth, which is that it is impossible to know for sure if THC will be detected on a drug test from using CBD products because there are so many variables. What we as retailers know is limited to the information at hand, which is the test results for that particular batch of product being purchased. 

In general, a Full Spectrum product will have .03% or less of THC in it and a Zero Spectrum or Distilled product SHOULD have 0.00% THC in it. You have to be able to trust the product and the retailer selling it to be honest. It is surprising that a state like Utah would allow the sale of a product with any trace of THC. It gives the impression that the government is leaving the regulation piece of the puzzle to its citizens and business people, an odd situation that dramatically increases the need for better consumer education!

We educate our customers daily on the nature of the CBD marketplace and the potential for bad products to exist in the wild. Our customers trust us because our team has been working with these products for over a decade. We do know who the good players are and who the bad players are by vetting the suppliers and products through time tested relationships and the use of internal testing. 

“In addition to safety risks and unproven claims, the quality of many CBD products may also be in question,” the agency says in guidance posted to its site. “Many were found to not contain the levels of CBD they claimed. We are also investigating reports of CBD potentially containing unsafe levels of contaminants.”

There’s a lot of fake CBD being sold to uneducated consumers, along with misinformation. If you are an employee facing random drug tests and want to try CBD as a pain relief alternative without disrupting your career, please consult with us at Canna West or at our Culture Shop across the street. And then talk to your employer before taking anything that could jeopardize your career.