More than half Americans don’t know the difference between CBD and THC

A new US poll has revealed that most Americans have never tried CBD and many don’t know the difference between CBD and THC-containing products.

Despite CBD growing exponentially in popularity and receiving increasing amounts of media coverage, a new US poll has found that many people are still not familiar with the cannabinoid.

Data insight company Invisibly used its Realtime Research tool to poll 1,087 people in a quest to find out how many Americans actually use it or know what it is.

It discovered that most people have never even tried a CBD product and many still don’t understand the difference between CBD, and the closely related compounds of cannabis, THC. 

Have you ever tried a CBD product?

The survey revealed that 62 percent of respondents had never tried a CBD product in any form. Of the respondents who had tried CBD, 14 percent used it in an ingestible form, 11 percent as a topical ointment or cream, and 13 percent had tried it in both ingestible and topical form.

Women are using CBD the most and they are trying it more than twice as much as their male and non-binary counterparts.

62% of respondents had never tried a CBD product in any form.

Do you know the difference between CBD and THC-containing products?

The survey revealed that the majority of respondents, 58 percent, did not know the difference between CBD and THC-containing products such as marijuana. 

58%, did not know the difference between CBD and THC-containing products

After analysing the data, Invisibly learned that 68 percent of respondents who have not tried CBD said that they didn’t know the difference between CBD and THC-containing products such as marijuana and only 64 percent of respondents who have tried CBD did understand the difference between the compounds.

In addition, 36 percent of respondents who have tried CBD did so without knowing the difference between CBD and THC-containing products. 

But 32 percent of respondents who have not tried CBD products still understood the difference between CBD and THC-containing products like marijuana.

36% of respondents who have tried CBD did so without knowing the difference between CBD and THC-

What’s the primary reason you would consider using CBD?

Over half of respondents (53 percent) said they would not consider using a CBD product for any reason. 

Of the remaining 47 percent of respondents who said they would consider using a CBD product, 24 percent said they would use it to reduce stress and anxiety, 14 percent said they would use or consider using CBD to reduce both stress and physical pain, and nine percent said they would use or consider using CBD solely to reduce chronic physical pain.

Over half of respondents would not consider using a CBD product for any reason.

Just under 71 percent of respondents who have never tried a CBD product said that they “won’t use any CBD product” while nearly 30 percent of respondents who have never tried a CBD product would consider using it to reduce stress, anxiety or physical pain. 

Forty percent of respondents who have tried CBD said their primary reason was to reduce stress and anxiety while 17 percent said their primary reason was to reduce physical or chronic pain. Thirty two percent of respondents who have tried CBD use it for both reasons.

In terms of gender and CBD usage, 50 percent of respondents identified as female, 28 percent as male, and 22 percent identified as non-binary.

50% of respondents identified as female

Fifty nine percent of women said they have tried both topical and ingestible products, compared to only 26 percent of men and 24 percent of non-binary respondents that have tried both. 

Women also tried topical CBD more than twice as much as their male and non-binary counterparts.

Read the full report at Invisibly.