CBD News: Superdrug Launches CBD Oil

In January, Holland and Barrett became the first UK Hight Street shop to sell CBD oil. Now Superdrug are following suit, with healthspan CBD oil.

The landing page says "CBD oil is the must-have product everyone's talking about. But what is it and can it improve your health & wellbeing?" But doesn't actually answer the question. Maybe they expect you to answer it yourself by trying it.

Superdrug is offering Healthspan High Strength CBD Oil 192mg - 30 capsules for £18.99 and Healthspan High Strength CBD Oil 250mg - Oral drops 10ml for £15.99.

For price comparison, the 250mg 10ml is equivalent to 1/3 of CTFO's 750mg 30ml oil (assuming equal quality etc), which costs $69.97 and similar to Jacob Hooy 2.75% 10ml, which costs £19.99 at Holland and Barrett, but is slightly stronger (275mg).

The Superdrug website says the oil is "Produced with non toxic CO2 extraction using hemp from EU approved sources, batch tested on CBD content and absence of the psychoactive THC." However, the lab reports are not made available.

About News Posts

I want this blog to be informative, so as well as product reviews and CBD information, I am going to add CBD News.

Manually pulling together all the CBD News out there would be a full time job itself, so I am going to use IFTTT to auto-post CBD News from various sources. I will write my own news articles as well, but most will be automatically posted.

You will be able to tell if a News Article has been automatically posted because it will be tagged IFTTT and will have a disclaimer linking to this post.

Is CTFO Free?

Since I started researching and promoting CBD, I have been asked a lot of questions, which I am answering in a series of blog posts, under the FAQ tag.

As a Change the Future Outcome (CTFO) independent associate, I get asked if CTFO really is free. The short answer is yes. The long answer is below:

It is free to sign up as a CTFO independent associate. Once you sign up, you earn 20% commission on everything you sell, but to qualify for the MLM part (earing money when people you recruit sell), you need to be buying $47.47 of products a month, or have recruited 10 people who are. So you can qualify without ever buying a product, but it's probably easier if you do.

With your free account, you get access to your back office where you can manage your CTFO business, including:

• Access links to your sites
• Create and edit all your account details 
• See what your commissions are and transfer those commissions into your bank account or debit/credit card 
• View your growing organization as new members join your team 
• Place orders for products and marketing materials 
• Set up and edit auto-ship (recurring) orders 
• View your order history.
• Access all the documents and reference files set up for you in the CTFO Library
• Create your own customized reports that let you know exactly what's going on in your CTFO organization.

You also get several websites, including:

• A replicated CTFO site. E.g. https://myctfo.me/hempuk/
• A business opportunity page. E.g. https://myctfo.me/hempuk/opportunity/
• An enrolment page. E.g. https://www.myctfo.me/hempuk/enroll/
• An online CBD shop. E,g. https://shop.myctfo.me/hempuk/

Most CBD MLM programs have a sign up fee and either an ongoing monthly fee, or a requirement to buy a certain amount of products per month. CTFO does not have any fees* or monthly purchase requirements, so in that sense, it is completely free. However, it is very difficult to promote a product that you have never tried, so, if you are serious about making money by promoting CTFO CBD products, you should buy some to try really. 

Optional costs associated with CTFO

Although CTFO is free to sign up for and has no monthly fees or purchase requirements, the following is a list of things I recommend spending money on.

• Your own domain name (around £20 per year) - I use www.hempCBD.business.
  The CTFO websites, that you are given free, are difficult to remember. It is much easier to buy a domain name that you will remember and set it up to redirect to your CTFO sites. You can use sub-domains to redirect to the different CTFO websites. For example, I redirect www.hempCBD.business to my replicated CTFO site (https://myctfo.me/hempuk/), sell.hempCBD.business to my business opportunity page (https://myctfo.me/hempuk/opportunity/) and shop.hempCBD.business to my CBD shop (https://shop.myctfo.me/hempuk/).
• CTFO products ($14.97 plus postage up)
  As I said above, it is very difficult to promote a product that you have never tried, so it makes sense to buy some to try. The cheapest product is the bath bombs that cost $14.97 each for associates and preferred customers ($19.97 retail), or $14.22, if you sign up for auto-ship. The most expensive is the 1500mg 10xPure Full Spectrum Drops that cost $159.97 for associates and preferred customers ($210.97 retail), or $151.97, if you sign up for auto-ship.
• Advertising and marketing (varies)
  Having a free CBD selling website is great, but no-one is going to buy anything, if they can't find your website. Of course there are free ways to promote it, through blogs and social media etc, but you might get customers quicker, if you invest in advertising.

* There is a premium plan with a monthly fee, but the free plan is free forever and there is no requirement to upgrade.

CBD Oil Price Comparision

When I was first looking for CBD oil, the same three companies kept coming up - Change the Future Outcome (CTFO), HempWorx and Kannaway.

I'm am not suggesting that cost should be the only factor when buying a CBD product. In fact, strength and quality are more important, but if cost is a factor for you, when choosing which CBD oil to buy, this comparison table might help.

CTFO has three prices - retail, which you pay if you do not register as a customer and check out as a guest, preferred, which you get if you register and autoship, which you get if you sign up to have the product sent to you every month. I am a CTFO independent associate, so I understand their pricing structure.

I am not registered with HempWorx or Kannaway, so have less understanding of their price structures. As far as I could tell, there was no way to check out without registering (the equivalent of the CTFO retail price) on either site, and only Kannaway offered an autoship discount. I could be wrong about this, so check before buying. To the best of my knowledge, the table below was correct at the time of writing (Sunday 16th June 2019).

Product	CTFO			Kannaway			Hempworx
	Retail	Preferred	Autoship	Retail	Preferred	Autoship	Retail	Preferred	Autoship
Full Spectrum 300mg 30ml*	$65.97	$49.97	$47.47		€46.80*	€39.00*
Full Spectrum 500mg 30ml	$80.97	$59.97	$56.97		€102.24	€85.20		$69.00
Full Spectrum 750mg 30ml	$90.97	$69.97	$66.47					$89.00
Full Spectrum 1500mg 30ml	$130.97	$99.97	$94.97
Isolate 500mg 30ml	$80.97	$59.97	$56.97					$69.00
Isolate 750mg 30ml								$89.00
Isolate 1500mg 30ml	$130.97	$99.97	$94.97
500mg Vape 30ml	$80.97	$59.97	$56.97
1500mg Vape 30ml	$130.97	$99.97	$94.97
10xPure Full Spectrum CBD Oil Drops – 500mg 30ml	$130.97	$99.97	$94.97	This product is exclusive to CTFO and not available anywhere else.
10xPure Full Spectrum CBD Oil Drops – 1500mg 30ml	$210.97	$159.97	$151.97

*Kannaway does not sell a 30ml 300mg oil. It does sell a 120ml 1000mg oil for €187.19 preferred and €155.99 autoship. This is the equivalent to 250mg in 30ml, so I divided the price by 4 to use as comparison.

What should you look for in third-party lab reports?

Unfortunately, there are CBD products on the market today that include everything from illegal doses of THC to prohibited synthetic cannabinoids.

Many brands offer third-party lab reports, often referred to as certificates of analysis (COA), and this is the key to knowing what is (and isn’t) in your CBD product.

In order to verify that a CBD product is pure, free of toxins and able to provide the claimed benefits, there are several analyses that need to be done.

Generally, the cannabinoids that are tested are CBD, THC, CBC, CBN, and CBG.

CBD is a non-psychoactive component and responsible for the majority of the health benefits associated with the cannabis plant.

Here are some analysis tests to look for before you purchase a CBD product:

CBD/THC ratio: It’s desirable for a cannabis or hemp product to have a higher concentration of CBD, and in fact it is required by law that they contain little to no THC (less than 0.3% by volume). Also, it should have minimal concentrations of other potentially psychoactive components.

Microbiological testing: This is done to ensure that there are no harmful mold colonies or bacteria on the cannabis or hemp plants. If there are pathogens on the plant, they can easily get inside the body if the levels are too high, and cause unwanted side effects.

Pesticide testing: This is important for ensuring the safety of cannabis and hemp compounds since the plants can be treated with fungicides and herbicides and high concentrations of these can cause significant side effects.

Residual solvents testing: Lab tests should include an analysis of residual solvents. Solvents are used when the plant is processed and turned into oil, powder or other products, but only for the solvent-based extraction process. Too high concentrations of solvents like propane, acetone, ethanol, and carbon dioxide can lead to unpleasant health effects and turn the product into a highly flammable one.

What is the difference between Cannabis, Hemp and Marijuana?

Citrus is a family (or genus) of plants. Lemon and lime trees are both a type of citrus, but they are very distinct plants. It doesn't matter what you do to a lime tree, you will never get a lemon from it.

Hemp and marijuana work in a similar way to lemon and lime. They are in the same family, but are different plants.

Hemp and marijuana are both a type of cannabis because they are both in the cannabis family, but in the same way you can't get lemons from a lime tree, you can't get high or 'stoned' from hemp.

As well as physical differences between the two, such as hemp being taller, with thinner leaves, there are chemical differences. The main chemical difference is that marijuana contains high amounts of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), while hemp contains only trace amounts (less than 0.3%).

THC is the psychoactive substance, found in some cannabis plants, and the reason for the 'stoned' feeling that Marijuana gives you.

Cannabidiol (CBD) can be extracted from hemp or marijuana, but it is only legal*, without a prescription, if it is extracted from hemp. Marijuana extracted CBD is illegal, unless prescribed, in many places, including the UK.

On this blog, I only review CBD products that have been produced from hemp, so are legal in the UK and US (as far as I know).

Start a CBD business for free here.

*Hemp derived CBD is legal in the UK and US. It may be illegal in other places.

My First Experience Flying with CBD

When I first started researching and using CBD oil, I was looking for pain relief. I read that it helps with anxiety, but I didn't take much notice because I don't suffer from anxiety, or so I thought...

I do have a mild fear of flying. It used to be pretty bad, but it's gradually getting better.

Are fear and anxiety the same thing?

According to Psychology Today, "fear is anxiety that is attached to a specific thing or circumstance." So my fear of flying is anxiety attached to flying, which means something that helps anxiety, could help me control my fear. I didn't realise that before my recent flight though.

My Flying Anxiety/Fear

I had a bad experience on a plane 20 years ago and my most vivid memory of that is the sound of the kids screaming. 

I guess I should be over it by now, but bad turbulence or crying children (on a plane) triggers something in me. I'm okay with crying children in most situations, but on a plane, the sound turns me into a stressed out panicking mess.

There was a time when I would panic as soon as I got to the airport, or sometimes even before. My way to deal with the panic was to drink alcohol until I calmed down. Not the healthiest way to deal with it, but it worked. I can get on a plane sober now, but I try not to.

I drink before and during the flight in the hope that, if there is a crying baby or bad turbulence, the alcohol will keep me calm. I don't wait for the trigger, because it takes time for alcohol to get into your blood and you can't always get it immediately on a plane anyway (especially during turbulence).

I'm aware that that's not the healthiest way to deal with it, but it's not like I fly every day.

My recent long-haul flight

A couple of weeks ago, I had to fly from the UK to America. 10 hours in a uncomfortable plane seat was guaranteed to hurt my back (Osteoarthritis) and ankle (recovering from a recent break), so I took CBD oil. I took 3 drops of Holistic Herb Premium CBD Oil (4.2mg) as and when I felt in pain.

I stuck to my usual drinking routine at the airport, because it hadn't occurred to me not to because CBD might help.

On the plane, waiting to take off, I noticed that I was more relaxed than I usually am that close to taking off. Yes, I had had alcohol, but I wasn't drunk and alcohol before flying is common practice for me, but I've never felt that relaxed before.

Whilst in the air, I didn't experience any bad turbulence or screaming kids, which would be the real test of how well CBD works on my flying anxiety, but I did experience some minor turbulence and it didn't bother me at all. Usually only bad turbulence makes me panic, but minor turbulence is stressful.

I didn't immediately associate my new relaxed flying experience with CBD. I thought maybe I was finally getting over it. Unfortunately, I ran out of CBD oil while I was away, and my return flight was a whole other experience; Back to being my usual scared stressed self.

The difference between how I felt on both flights has given me faith that CBD could help control my fear of flying.

I did drink alcohol while in the air, out of habit, but I drank a lot less than I usually do, on the outbound flight, when I was taking CBD as well. 

Next week, I have to do a short haul flight (2 hours), so I am going to take CBD oil and attempt to fly without drinking alcohol for the first time in years. 

I will blog about it when I get back, so watch this space...

Product Review: CTFO Sleep Support Oral Spray

Key facts

Recommended Dose: 2 sprays, once a day.

CBD per Dose: 2mg

Size: 8ml

Full price: $40.97

Price I paid: $24.97

Servings per container: 30

Link: https://shop.myctfo.me/HempUK/index.php/?route=product/product&path=30&product_id=292

Reason for lower price: Signed up as an associate. Signing up as a Preferred Customer at checkout gets the same discount.

Flavour: Mint

Also contains: Melatonin :1.67mg, Proprietary Blend (GABA, Valerian Root): 1mg

I can honestly say "this stuff is amazing." I have never slept better. 

I had to go away for work last week. I always struggle to sleep in strange beds anyway, but things were made worse by the bed not being very comfortable and the room being very noisy because the hotel was right my a main road that seemed to be full of traffic 24/7. I fully expected to be unable to sleep, but two sprays under the tongue, 15 minutes before bed, did the trick. I slept really well every night.

I've been using it everyday since and the only night I had trouble sleeping was when I also drank Pukka Tea Night Time Tea, which also contains Valerian Root, so I can only assume that too much Valerian keeps you awake instead of helping you sleep.

This smaller size works out at $0.83 per dose, but there is a 30ml bottle for $59.97, which contains 90 doses, so works out at $0.67 per dose. I'll be ordering that, when this one is nearly finished.

How does CBD help with sleep?

According to the Sleep Doctor, "CBD has the ability to reduce anxiety, which can be helpful in reducing sleep difficulties and improving sleep quality."

How does Melatonin help with sleep?

Melatonin is known as 'the sleep hormone' and is produced naturally by our bodies and signals the body to prepare for sleep.

How does GABA help with sleep?

GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric acid) is an amino acid produced naturally in the brain It reduces the activity of neurons in the brain and central nervous system, which can increase relaxation, reduce stress and boost sleep.

How does Valerian Root help with sleep?

Valerian contains valerenic acid, isovaleric acid and a variety of antioxidants. Valerenic acid has been found to inhibit the breakdown of GABA in the brain, resulting in feelings of calmness and tranquility. This is the same way anti-anxiety medications like Valium and Xanax work.

Note: I’m not making any medical claims. CTFO Sleep Support Oral Spray is sold as a dietary supplement and is not intended to treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition. Just because I personally noticed an improvement in sleep, doesn’t mean you will.