Cannabidiolic acid, C22H30O4. It is the form in which the cannabis plant makes CBD. Heat removes one carbon dioxide group from it, and what is left is CBD.

Is CBDA the same as CBD?

No. CBDA is the acid the plant makes; CBD is what remains after heat strips off a carboxyl group. Raw hemp holds mostly CBDA, while smoked, vaped or heat-processed products hold mostly CBD.

Why does a lab report list CBDA and CBD separately?

Because a lab can measure both forms without heating the sample. The report then adds them as total CBD = CBD + 0.877 × CBDA.

Is CBDA approved as a medicine?

No. The one FDA-approved CBD medicine, Epidiolex, contains CBD. No CBDA product is FDA-approved for any use.

CBDA

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CBDA (cannabidiolic acid): the raw form of CBD

Cannabidiolic acid, the raw form of CBD that the plant makes; heat turns it into CBD.

By The glossary desk. Published Oct 5, 2026

CBDA /ˌsiːˌbiːˌdiːˈeɪ/ abbr. Cannabidiolic acid. The raw form of CBD that the cannabis plant makes; heat turns it into CBD.

(chemistry) The carboxylic acid C22H30O4, molar mass 358.5 g/mol (PubChem CID 160570). The plant’s direct precursor of cannabidiol.
(lab reports) A line on a certificate of analysis (COA), reported apart from CBD and folded into the “total CBD” figure.

Origin Cannabidiol + -ic acid. The A in CBDA, as in THCA and CBGA, stands for acid.

See also cannabidiol · CBG · CBDV · full spectrum

Checked against the sources below on Oct. 4, 2026.

Notes

How does the plant make CBDA?

From cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), the shared starting point of the main cannabinoid acids. An enzyme in the resin glands, CBDA synthase, closes a ring in CBGA and gives CBDA (Taura, Morimoto and Shoyama, 1996). A plant whose genes code for that enzyme, rather than THCA synthase, makes mostly CBDA (de Meijer and others, 2003). That is what breeders mean by a CBD-type plant.

What does heat do to CBDA?

It removes a carboxyl group (–COOH) as carbon dioxide. The change is called decarboxylation, and it runs faster the hotter the sample. In a University of Mississippi study that heated cannabis extracts at 80 °C to 145 °C for up to an hour, CBDA converted at about half the rate of THCA, and some of it was lost along the way rather than turning into CBD (Wang and others, 2016). Smoking and vaping reach far higher temperatures.

Where does the 0.877 come from?

From the two molar masses. Losing CO2 takes CBDA from 358.5 g/mol to CBD’s 314.5 g/mol, and 314.5 ÷ 358.5 = 0.877. So a lab reports:

Line	Formula
Total CBD	CBD + 0.877 × CBDA

The same factor turns THCA into THC on the “total THC” line, because the two pairs have the same masses.

Does CBDA have any approved use?

No. Research on CBDA is at the laboratory and animal stage, and the FDA has approved no CBDA product. The one approved CBD medicine contains CBD (FDA). This glossary makes no claim for either.

What does the law count?

Federal hemp law counts THC, not CBD or CBDA. From Dec. 11, 2026, it counts total THC, THCA included, at 0.3% of dry weight (P.L. 119-37, sec. 781; date set by H.R. 6500, sec. 2019). A CBDA-rich plant can still carry enough THCA to fail that line. State law varies; check yours.

The shop on this site

The flower in the shop is rich in THCA, not CBDA. Our menu today is high-THCA hemp flower, not CBD flower. Smoked, it gets you high and shows up on THC drug tests.

Sources

National Library of Medicine. PubChem: Cannabidiolic acid, CID 160570.
Taura F, Morimoto S, Shoyama Y. “Purification and characterization of cannabidiolic-acid synthase from Cannabis sativa L.” J. Biol. Chem. 271 (1996): 17411–17416. doi.org/10.1074/jbc.271.29.17411
de Meijer EPM and others. “The inheritance of chemical phenotype in Cannabis sativa L.” Genetics 163 (2003): 335–346. doi.org/10.1093/genetics/163.1.335
Wang M and others. “Decarboxylation study of acidic cannabinoids: a novel approach using ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography/photodiode array-mass spectrometry.” Cannabis Cannabinoid Res. 1 (2016): 262–271. doi.org/10.1089/can.2016.0020
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA Regulation of Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Products, Including Cannabidiol (CBD).
H.R. 5371 (P.L. 119-37), sec. 781; H.R. 6500, sec. 2019.

Questions

What is CBDA?: Cannabidiolic acid, C22H30O4. It is the form in which the cannabis plant makes CBD. Heat removes one carbon dioxide group from it, and what is left is CBD.
Is CBDA the same as CBD?: No. CBDA is the acid the plant makes; CBD is what remains after heat strips off a carboxyl group. Raw hemp holds mostly CBDA, while smoked, vaped or heat-processed products hold mostly CBD.
Why does a lab report list CBDA and CBD separately?: Because a lab can measure both forms without heating the sample. The report then adds them as total CBD = CBD + 0.877 × CBDA.
Is CBDA approved as a medicine?: No. The one FDA-approved CBD medicine, Epidiolex, contains CBD. No CBDA product is FDA-approved for any use.

A note on our shop: it sells high-THCA hemp flower, not CBD flower.