On average, we see the price of CBD per milligram around $.15. If a standard 30-milliliter tincture contains 500 milligrams of CBD, you can expect to pay around $75.00, not including tax and possibly shipping for online shoppers.<\/p>\n
That might be acceptable for some, but cash-strapped consumers may not have the disposable income to keep up with a consistent dosing regimen needed to manage their ailments. When this happens, patients may end up looking to inferior CBD products<\/a> that can be incorrectly labeled, impure, or even unsafe rather than lab tested, high-quality CBD<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you’re curious as to why CBD is so costly, read on because we\u2019re going to breakdown the costs associated with CBD products, and provide tips on stretching your CBD dollar as far as possible.<\/p>\n As with any agricultural farming, the first set of costs are the land and farming and cultivation<\/a> costs such as; seeds, labor, cultivation equipment, state, city, and county licenses, etc.<\/p>\n With regards to farming hemp<\/a> (and marijuana) there are additional reporting and testing costs over other agriculture due to the nature of what\u2019s being planted and each state has their own set of requirements and costs. These costs can be as low as $25 in Vermont<\/a> and as high as $500-$1000 depending on whether the license is for a grower or hander, plus a $5.00 per acre fee. To get a better idea of costs, we recently published an article overviewing the hemp market<\/a> for Nevada, Vermont, Oregon, and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n Some states also have specific licenses or certification programs for hemp seed distributors and producers. Click to read each state’s hemp statutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once the hemp plants reach maturity it\u2019s time to harvest them. According to coolbean.info<\/a>, the cost to harvest an acre of hemp in Minnesota will run between $300 to $600 per acre. This is down substantially from 2017 when the cost averaged between $970 to $2,500 per acre.<\/p>\n Once the harvest is complete, the hemp plant stem needs to have the various components separated with a machine called a decorticator. This machine can run upwards of $2 million.<\/p>\n After decortication, the next step will be to extract the cannabinoids, terpenes<\/a>, flavonoids, etc. from the plant. The two most popular methods of extractions are through a Supercritical CO2 extraction or an ethanol extraction with CO2 extraction becoming the standard.<\/p>\n According to Cannabis Business Executive<\/a>, a CO2 extraction machine can cost around $135,000 to $150,000 plus $20,000 to $35,000 for a rotary evaporator and centrifuge.<\/p>\n Of course these machine costs are in addition to the buildings, infrastructure, labor, and the raw materials for those not growing their own.<\/p>\n Once the cannabinoids<\/a>, terpenes, and other plant materials are extracted from the cannabis or hemp plant, there are still a number of steps needed before the CBD reaches store shelves.<\/p>\n What is initially extracted is a cannabis concentrate that has contains acids that need to be decarboxylated<\/a>. The cost for a decarboxylation oven cost around $5,000 to $7,000 for ovens that have a capacity of 10 cubic feet and can go up to 38 cubic feet.<\/p>\n After the concentrate is decarboxylated, what\u2019s left is full spectrum<\/a> cannabinoid oil. Full of all the cannabis plants cannabinoids, including CBD, terpenes, and the plants chlorophyll, lipids and waxes. When it comes to the “entourage effect,” this is the best option.<\/p>\n However, not everyone wants the plant materials and\/or the THC. Many patients prefer oil with higher concentrations of cannabidiol (CBD) and not concerned with plant properties or THC. To remove the plant properties, the CBD concentrate will first be winterized to isolate and remove the unwanted compounds, followed by distillation to further \u2018clean\u2019 the oil. If THC is being removed, the distilled concentrate will then go through a chromatography machine. Cost for the equipment to perform these functions can grow to the hundreds of thousands plus the labor to run them.<\/p>\n Once complete, the finished product now needs to be tested to prove product purity and concentration. There are a variety of tests available. Following are a list of services by a well known testing facility in Arizona.<\/p>\n Testing Services:<\/p>\n After testing, the CBD concentrates are bottled, packaged and prepared for delivery to their distributors to sell.<\/p>\n Obviously the largest costs come from the manufacturing side, but we can\u2019t forget about the product distributors who have their own set of operating costs. Operating costs themselves are just a part of doing business. But operating costs for cannabis companies can be twice, even three times as much. In addition, due to the \u2018gray\u2019 area of cannabis and hemp laws, CBD companies must take extra precautions to insure they are protected. This, of course, adds to the cost of CBD.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at the bare minimum of operating costs a CBD company is going to incur.<\/p>\n A general liability business insurance policy for cannabis companies can easily amount to $500 to $700 per month! This same insurance policy for a non-cannabis company would only be about $700 for a year!<\/p>\n Credit card and banking options are very limited for cannabis companies. In order to accept credit cards for hemp purchases distributors need to sign up with merchants specializing in \u2018high risk\u2019 processing. Costs with these processors can be exorbitant. In some cases they can run hundreds of dollars per month.<\/p>\n If a high-risk domestic merchant cannot help, distributors are then forced to look off shore for credit card processing. These don\u2019t come cheap. Off shore processors will normally require a business to incorporate in the country that processes the cards. Incorporating in the UK costs roughly $500 plus monthly fees that can also run in the hundreds per month. These are in addition to the higher-than-normal monthly processing fees for the service.<\/p>\n Bank accounts and business loans are not available to cannabis companies, which means they need to find unique, and sometimes costly, places to store their cash and have access to it for payroll and other business related expenses. Again, this often results in the opening of costly offshore accounts.<\/p>\n Since the state level requirements for CBD derived from hemp and marijuana differ, CBD companies usually have someone in-house make sure the company is adhering to each state\u2019s regulations. They also make sure all the products meet the specific states allowed THC percentage. In most cases, this is 0.3 percent THC or less. They also monitor the percentage of CBD contained in the products are inline with the product labels.<\/p>\n An article from ProjectCBD.org<\/a> states that according to the FDA, 69 percent of CBD products are mislabeled. In-house compliance officers work to insure this doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n A company selling CBD better have an attorney. If not, they\u2019re taking big risks. Attorneys will help insure companies are acting in compliance and keeping up with the ever-changing state laws on cannabis.<\/p>\n![\"CBD](\"http:\/\/ministryofhemp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/CBD-Oil-shutterstock_1070417192-e1552683511542.jpg\")
EXPENSES BEGIN BEFORE THE FIRST HEMP SEED IS PLANTED<\/h2>\n
THE HIGH COST OF HARVESTING AND EXTRACTION<\/h2>\n
FROM EXTRACTION TO PACKAGING<\/h2>\n
THIRD-PARTY LAB TESTING IS VITAL, BUT ADDS TO THE COST OF CBD<\/h2>\n
\n
LEGAL EXPENSES, BANKING, & OTHER FACTORS INCREASE COST OF CBD<\/h2>\n
![\"Other](\"http:\/\/ministryofhemp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Lawyer-office-2820890-Pixabay-PD-espartgraphic-e1552684595792.jpg\")
Insurance<\/h3>\n
Credit Card Processing<\/h3>\n
Banking<\/h3>\n
In-House Compliance Officers<\/h3>\n
Attorney<\/h3>\n
![\"While](\"http:\/\/ministryofhemp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/CBD-Oil-Hemp-Plants-shutterstock_1228275058-1-e1552684088416.jpg\")