As a healthcare professional, a common question that I receive when talking to patients and clients who are interested in incorporating the use of hemp products or hemp foods into their daily routine is:
“Will eating hemp foods show up positive for THC on a drug test?”
According to the research studies available, the answer to this is question is a yes! Regular consumption or use of commercially made hemp foods (such as seeds, cooking oil, cereals, milk, granola) or hemp products (lotions, shampoos, lip balms, etc.) will show a positive result for THC on a drug test.
The detection of cannabis constituents and metabolites in hair is an established procedure to provide evidence of exposure to cannabis. We present the first known evidence to suggest that applying hemp oil to hair, as cosmetic treatment, may result in the incorporation of tetrahydrocannabinol , cannabinol , cannabidiol and in one instance, the metabolite tetrahydrocannabinol.volunteers treated their head hair daily with commercially available hemp oil for a period of 6 weeks. Head hair samples were collected before and after the application period. Hair samples were washed with methanol and subjected to clean up via liquid/liquid and solid phase extraction procedures, and then GC-MS/MS for the analysis of THC, CBN, CBD, THC-OH and THC-COOH. Application of hemp oil to hair resulted in the incorporation of one or more cannabis constituents in 89% of volunteers, and 33% of the group tested positive for the three major constituents, THC, CBN and CBD. One volunteer showed low levels of the metabolite THC-OH. We suggest that cosmetic use of hemp oil should be recorded when sampling head hair for analysis, and that the interpretative value of cannabinoid hair measurements from people reporting application of hemp oil is treated with caution in both criminology and public health.
Hemp oil products are advertised in health shops for their good source of omega fatty acids15. Bosy et al.16 assessed whether oral consumption of hemp oil would negatively affect existing drug screening protocols. Various oils were screened (THC content of bottled oils was 36.0, 117.5, 36.4, 45.7, 21.0, 11.5 mg/g) and administered to volunteers and their urine measured for metabolite levels. GC-MS analysis determined the amount of THC-COOH in each participant’s urine to be below the confirmation cut-off within a 48 hour cessation period. Similarly to hemp oil, hemp foods are classified as ‘natural foods’ and are commercially available. Leson et al. showed that daily consumption of hemp food can lead to the presence of THC and THC-COOH in urine, but these compounds were below the confirmation thresholds17. These authors16,17 suggest that hemp food and oil products do contain cannabinoids but in very low concentrations, and that ingestion of such products should not be deemed as a concern in drug testing. The Cannabis plant has been used in the production of cosmetics through the use of hemp oil and cannabis extracts18. An evaluation of Cannabio® shampoo revealed levels of THC, CBD and CBN, three constituents that indicate cannabis exposure19. However, normal hygiene practice using the cosmetic produced no positive results in hair. Extreme use could generate positive results for CBN and CBD but not the primary constituent, THC.
Despite declaring no consumption or exposure to Cannabis, volunteer 4 showed levels of CBD, THC and CBN prior to applying the hemp oil. For this reason volunteer 4 was excluded from further discussion. Three of the remaining volunteers (volunteers 2, 6 and 8) showed levels of all three major constituents of cannabis (CBD, THC, CBN) in their hair following application of hemp oil. This is an important finding with potential ramifications for cannabinoid hair testing where donors report application of hemp oil. Taylor et al.20 demonstrated that 77% of self-reported heavy users of cannabis tested positive in hair for THC, 19% for CBD, and 73% for CBN. Of these heavy users the detection of metabolites THC-OH (found in 19% of the sample) and THC-COOH (found in 54% of the samples) were important indicators of consumption. However in the same study, light users of cannabis tested positive for THC (39%), CBN (29%) and CBD (11%), and importantly only 3% and 11% tested positive for metabolites THC-OH and THC-COOH respectively. There may be a risk where laboratories observe detectable hair concentrations of CBD, THC, and CBN in donors who use hemp oil cosmetically on their hair that the result interpretation could mistakenly suggest light cannabis use, or passive exposure. In Table 2 we present our interpretation of volunteer hair cannabinoid concentrations post hemp oil application if we imagine that hemp oil application was not declared. If we saw these results with no indication that hemp oil had been applied to the hair, then 6 of the volunteers have cannabinoid levels consistent with low level or infrequent cannabis use, but exposure to cannabis could also explain the results. THC-OH present in volunteer 3 would suggest cannabis use, and the levels of CBN and CBD also present may suggest possible use of a cannabis based product. In a similar manner the CBN and CBD levels in volunteer 1 also suggest possible use of a cannabis based product, but here the absence of THC and any metabolites do not suggest cannabis use.
When results post hemp oil application were reviewed it was observed that there was a strong analyte peak present in the THC channel for volunteers 1 and 3 that had a very similar retention time to that of THC at a high level. These concentrations have been reported as not detected as they do not meet the criteria to be reported as THC. Although the hemp oil used in this study did not contain detectable levels of THC, the oil did contain an unidentified peak within the THC channel as described above in the discussion of volunteers 1 and 3. It appears that a structurally similar compound with similar but not exact retention time has transferred during cosmetic application of the oil, and become incorporated in the hair. Analysts should be aware of potential THC analogues in hair where donors report hemp oil application. Routine analytical criteria for peak acceptance should suffice.
During the 6 week hemp oil application period, volunteers followed their usual hair hygiene routine which varied from washing and shampooing daily, to every few days. Oil was applied in the evening, and all volunteers with the exception of volunteers 1 and 3, always washed their hair the following morning. Volunteers 1 and 3 reported some hair washing the morning following oil application, but on occasion hair washing was delayed by 1 to 2 days. Volunteers 1 and 3 display the highest levels of CBN and CBD post hemp oil application. It is possible that the additional time that hemp oil was in contact with the hair prior to hair washing may have caused this increase in concentration. Chromatography from the hair analysis of these same volunteers also showed high levels of the potential THC analogue described earlier, and we suspect the high levels are again a possible result of the less frequent hair washing than other volunteers.
The legalization of hemp and cannabis in Canada is a positive development in our culture! However, if drug tests are something that you have to deal with in your life at this time, you may want to avoid all cannabinoid-containing spa products and cannabis topicals, just to be on the safe side.