When you’re just starting to work with cannabis to support your wellness and health, there’s one question you’ll want a clear and authoritative answer to: What’s the right CBD dosage for me?
Unfortunately, there’s no single answer to that question. There is a silver lining, though. With the knowledge of how simple conversions such as grams to milligrams work — and a little experimentation—you can settle on an optimal CBD dosage fairly quickly. Whether you’re purchasing our best-in-class CBD ingestibles or visiting your local dispensary, this is the knowledge that will come in handy again and again.
Let’s get started!
CBD Dosage: The Basics
As we’ve written before, CBD partners with our bodies in all sorts of surprising ways. Whether it’s through the strain-reducing effects of topicals such as our award-winning Releaf Balm or the stress-shedding actions of our ingestibles, both clinical studies (and our many happy customers) attest that CBD is demonstrably safe and plant-based.
That said, cannabis-like all medicine—works best when used in regular and sustained doses. Many people experience greater symptomatic relief by using the minimum dose of CBD that still relieves their symptoms. While everyone’s a little bit different—and we process cannabinoids differently depending on our age, our weight, and other metabolic factors—we can offer some general guidelines.
For instance, a “small” daily CBD dosage might mean 20mg or less. How would you get that much from CBD oil? If you check out the page for our CBD Releaf Oil and scroll down, under the “What’s Inside?” tab you’ll find a breakdown of the ingredients, CBD strength, and other important facts. You’ll also see that a 30ml bottle contains 900mg of CBD and that this size of the bottle contains 30, 1ml servings.
From there, it’s a simple jump over to a scrap of paper (or a calculator) to do some division. Dividing the bottle’s CBD milligrams (900) by the number of servings (30) tells you that each dropperful contains a CBD dosage of 30mg.
In this example, we’d probably advise someone just starting with CBD to take a half to a single dropperful a day, to begin with. Based on the results, the person could increase the dosage until desired results are achieved. Again, while we always advise a gentle and measured approach to CBD dosages as you find out what works for you, there is no need to stress over what amount is okay to take as you are experimenting. Research suggests that even high dosages—in some cases, 1,500ml a day—are tolerated well.
But…what about the grams to milligrams question we raised earlier? Here’s a quick rule of thumb to get you started.
Milligrams to Grams: Calculating CBD Dosage at a Dispensary
When you purchase cannabis at a dispensary—whether it contains only CBD or the intoxicating cannabinoid THC—it’s typically sold in units called “grams.” You may have heard “eighths” or “quarters” used as measurements. Those refer to an eighth or a quarter of a gram, respectively. To help you visualize: A gram is the basic unit of weight used in the metric system, and it corresponds to the amount of cannabis flower to fill a single joint or two.
Now, armed with the knowledge of a gram, let's dig into the next common unit of measurement: milligrams. A milligram is 0.001 grams. It’s a tiny amount. Let’s go back to the example of the bottle we mentioned before: If each 1ml dropper is one dose and that dose contains 30mg, that is equivalent to less than a third of a gram of CBD.
Milligram Delivery Methods
All of our ingestible CBD options use milligrams for recommended dosing. Ingestible CBD oil is the preferred intake method for many people—particularly for anyone who has trouble swallowing a pill! Other people prefer pill formats, perhaps because they don’t like the texture of oil or because a pill might be easier to integrate into a daily vitamin ritual. Two great methods to consider for accurate dosing in a pill-type format include our soft gels and capsules. Both types contain a specific milligram dosage so you know exactly how much you are taking with each pill.
Lastly, milligrams are also relevant to our topical products. The concentration of milligrams in our topical applications helps you understand the concentration of milligrams applied. For example, our 15ml Releaf Balm contains 180 milligrams of CBD. If you use our balm for 15 applications, you are applying 12 milligrams of CBD with each use.
CBD Dosage: A Measured Approach
It’s important to note that—because every type of cannabis contains different levels of CBD—it’s best to buy purpose-made medicinal products that are carefully quality-controlled for the amount of CBD per dose to maximize beneficial effects.
We hope this provides some clarity on calculating your optimal dose of CBD. While it’s extremely unlikely you could “overdose” on CBD, we advise our customers to consult product packaging carefully before using it and take into account their weight and physical condition.
Do you have other questions about CBD dosages? Just ask! We’re here to help.
