02/09/2023
What is inside Cannabis?
Cannabis is a plant of over 1,000 chemical constituents, varying by chemotype (chemical phenotype) batch and crop. Cannabinoids are the most active compounds. There are over 150 discovered cannabinoids in the plant, including THC, CBD, CBN, and others. Over 230 Terpenes and Terpenoids (more commonly known as essential oils, e.g. pinene, limonene) give smell and taste to Cannabis and to all other plants in nature. Like cannabinoids, they also have numerous medicinal qualities.
THC and CBD - Main Phytocannabinoids and Their Ratios:
THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) provides many of the medicinal properties of Cannabis (see table below). THC is responsible for most of the psychoactive and neurological effects of Cannabis, including euphoria, laughter, altered sense of space and time, transient changes in short-term memory and coordination, heightened sensory perception (five senses). Finding an individual dose of THC that produces therapeutic benefits without affecting activities of daily living is the goal for most patients. It is best to avoid THC-dominant strains at the beginning of treatment.
CBD (Cannabidiol) produces a majority of medicinal effects of Cannabis and is considered a “non-psychoactive” cannabinoid. CBD helps to decrease the psychoactivity and other side effects of THC (heart racing, hunger, anxiety, sedation) while enhancing some of THC’s benefits. At the ratio of CBD and THC as 1:1, psychoactive effects of THC start to diminish. At the ratio of 3:1 or more with CBD predominance, they are minimal to none.
Read more:
Phytocannabinoids: a unified critical inventory.
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6NP00074F
Minor Phytocannabinoids: A Misleading Name but a Promising Opportunity for Biomedical Research
Biomolecules 2022, 12(😎, 1084; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12081084
https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/12/8/1084
Terpenes/Terpenoids in Cannabis: Are They Important? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8489319/
