cbd is popular, we get it. in our opinion, it deserves the recognition it’s finally getting. it’s a whole trend right now, though, and with that comes an expensive price tag. but for real, why is cbd so dang expensive? and is it going to get cheaper anytime soon?

the truth is, cbd oil is not as expensive as the biggest players in the industry want you to think it is. because cbd is so versatile and the cbd industry is booming, demand for the product is at an all-time high and companies of all kinds are taking full advantage of the hype.

surely, there must be some reason why legit cbd is so expensive. after all, higher quality vitamins and supplements usually cost more than their cheaper counterparts. the same goes for organic produce in a lot of cases. since cbd is a natural health product, it would make sense for the same logic to follow. however, we’ve found that’s not the case, even though prices across the entire cbd world are reflecting said logic. 

dispelling the myths of expensive cbd

we think cbd is too expensive, period. of course there are your cheapo gas station cbd products and fly-by-night companies who make no claim to their product’s potency or cleanliness of ingredients, and sure, these companies can offer “cbd products” for a low price. but we trust that if you’re reading this, you probably care enough about your body to not even consider putting that garbage in it. we also trust that we’re not alone in thinking that high quality cbd from reputable sources is quite costly. after all, there are tinctures out there that can run you $100, $200, or even more!

a quick google search using this article’s very title will return heaps of information as to why cbd is so expensive. it should come at no surprise that many cbd companies are putting out information as to why cbd is expensive – it fulfills their narrative and continues to allow them to charge top dollar for their product. hey, we get it. there’s something to be said about charging a premium for a high-quality product or service that people are willing to pay for (again, we’re talking reputable sources only here, not those shady ones). but, does it have to be that way? why can’t the best quality cbd oil be both accessible and affordable to all? 

to us, any answer to that question sounds more like an excuse. and there are excuses along every step of the supply chain, so let’s get started. 

growing - the cannabis plant has many compounds found within it, with the two primary ones being thc and cbd. cannabis can be bred for different genetic traits (with regards to thc, you can think of different strains and their varied effects as an example of this), and thc percentage happens to be the one that is concerned for legal classifications of the plant. any cannabis with more than .3% thc is called “marijuana,” while everything below .3% is called hemp.

but in both “hemp” and “marijuana,” different strains of cannabis can be cultivated for high cbd levels. there is an argument that growing cannabis specifically for high levels of cbd is more expensive, and that is simply untrue. yes, there is a skill to growing, but that alone cannot explain the high price of cbd. a favorable legality landscape for cannabis as a whole will allow for more people to have access to cannabis as well as the ability to grow it. as more people are able to grow high-quality, cbd-rich hemp, the prices will go down accordingly. in other words, the forces of supply and demand will play a role as access to cannabis increases nationwide. this brings us to our next aspect...

legality and regulation - “marijuana” was effectively made illegal in the 1930s and the stigma associated with it throughout all of our lives is undeniable. this sent the plant to the black market, where prices were set high. the last 15 years have seen prices on medical cannabis - and now recreational cannabis - continue to fall as access to the product has expanded. for example, the same eighth we found at a dispensary for $60 in 2007 can now be acquired for roughly half that price.

today, that price is still being paid for in many ways with cannabis as a whole. after all, it was only in 2018 that the production of hemp was legalized. with that, cbd became legal nationwide as well. we are still in such early stages of this beautiful situation (yes, we’re biased lol), and there are a lot of moving parts and kinks to be worked out. in the meantime, the price is being passed on to the end-user. 

the end-user is also slammed with other regulatory costs. despite being legal, there is tremendous governmental oversight over the growth of cannabis. this results in growers having to pay licensing fees in order to stay within the confines of the law. from there, the end product is also taxed higher than many other crops (this also contributes to lower supply, which we mentioned in the section on growing). farmers must stay in business, so that cost is conveniently passed down to the consumer at whatever arbitrary profit margin they are subjected to. 

extraction, ingredients, and testing: a lot of companies are being cryptic at best, if not intentionally deceitful when it comes to these three areas. but knowledge is power, and we did our homework so we have some to share with you. let’s address each point, one at a time. 

• extraction: what method are they using to extract their cbd? co2 extraction is undeniably expensive (and worth it, so make sure your cbd is extracted in this manner!), but there are products out there using ethanol extraction or simply making infusions in order to cut corners (to the cost and final product), while still charging an arm and a leg. 
  
  
• ingredients: this is another one where companies cut corners. many products out there aren’t made using high quality, organic ingredients such as olive oil, mct oil, or anything else within a given blend. there’s also a lot of cbd that isn’t organic itself, which poses a serious threat when considering that hemp is a bio-accumulator and absorbs whatever is in the soil in which it grows. this means you could unknowingly be consuming toxins such as pesticides or lead, which is why it’s important to see proof of independent third party lab results as well.
  
  
• testing: testing is another component that is necessary and not cheap. however, is your cbd company testing for anything beyond cbd content? what about thc levels, terpenes, or the other toxins previously mentioned? if they aren’t, that is not only a risk on your end, but it is something you’re probably still “paying for” in some form.

what are you doing to lower the price of cbd?

another big component to price is how many times a product exchanges hands between the farm and you having it in your home. we think it’s important to have your finished product be as close to the source as possible throughout the entire process, and we also think it’s just as important to support farmers who share this belief. as such, we’ve gone the extra mile to develop relationships with small, organic and sustainable hemp farms in oregon, and that, in turn, allows us to work directly with them and know the source of where our hemp comes from.

their medicinal hemp genetics are grown to produce robust cannabinoid and terpene profiles, and we buy raw hemp extract directly from these farmers in order to cut out any middlemen that would result in further price increases. we also think it’s important to connect with you, the consumer, in a personal manner. this is why we have an active voice online and in the community, and we look to sell directly to you in order to remove any third-party retail markup from the price you end up paying. 

perhaps the biggest thing we are doing to lower the price of cbd, however, is simply leading by example! as we’ve mentioned, there are “excuses” that companies can make for selling cbd oil at a prime price point. but at the end of the day that’s all they are, excuses. we keep coming back to the idea that everybody is selling cbd at an inflated price simply because everyone else is doing it. so we’ve slashed our already-low prices even further across the board, bringing our price per mg of cbd to as little as four cents per bottle. 

this price is available to everybody, every day, because affordable access to cbd is in our dna. you can buy one bottle for that price – no need to increase your order like other companies do to drive the price down. we already value you plenty; we don’t need to make you buy more product to prove that value. that’s backwards thinking – it should be up to us to provide value to YOU, and we love our products and are certain you will as well. it’s also why we operate as transparently as possible - we have nothing to hide!

lastly, everything with zadaka’s name on it is done with the utmost integrity. this means we’ve found a way to bring you the highest quality, organic cbd we can find at the lowest prices possible. our products check all the boxes with regards to clean, lab-tested, co2 extracted, organic ingredients. and we’ve found a way to deliver that product to you at a price that is actually affordable and sustainable. if we can do it, why can’t everyone else? 

with that, we ask you: why is cbd so expensive? hopefully you now understand it really isn’t as expensive as it is made out to be. you can also sign up for our newsletter below and receive a first-time discount and make sure you're kept in the loop for future deals and other nice things. :)