Despite its growing fame and recognition, there’s still a lot of misinformation about cannabis, hemp, CBD oil, and the industry in general. Here’s your go-to guide to CBD, THC, and beyond. What I mean is, both hemp and marijuana come from the same species of the cannabis plant, but it’s their concentrations of THC that differentiate them. Cannabis plants with 0.3 percent or less of THC are considered hemp, while plants with more than 0.3 percent THC are marijuana. This causes a lot of confusion (and it is, admittedly, confusing!), but it’s important to know that when we say cannabis, it applies to both marijuana and hemp. Cannabinoid is a name that describes a group of similar compounds that are found in the body (called endocannabinoids), found naturally in plants (called phytocannabinoids), and even made in a lab (in this case they’re called synthetic cannabinoids). Cannabinoids interact with a larger system in the body called the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is often described as a major regulatory system. The ECS is responsible for the side effects (good and bad) of using cannabis—whether that be in the form of hemp oil, CBD oil, or smoking marijuana. The endocannabinoid system is composed of the endocannabinoids that the body1 produces naturally and also a family of receptors called cannabinoid receptors. The two cannabinoid receptors to know about are CB1 and CB2, and they explain in large part why cannabis has so many healing properties and also why THC causes intoxication while CBD does not.* CBD and THC have been described as “sister molecules” and one of the most interesting aspects of cannabinoid science is the “entourage effect,3” which says that cannabinoids are more effective together than they are alone in isolated preparations. This is part of the reason why when you’re looking for cannabis products, experts recommend full-spectrum products (which include the other cannabinoids and terpenes of the plant) and to steer clear of isolates, which only contain the single compound and are generally less effective and more difficult to dose. As research continues, we’ll better understand cannabis and the health benefits of specific cannabinoids. Despite the modern-day stigma, cannabis and cannabinoids have been used for centuries as plant medicines and with new formulas and innovation, have a lot of potential to help people all over the world.
