Whether you’ve just started researching medical cannabis or you’ve used it for some time, you’ve almost undoubtedly heard of cannabinoids. These are the “active” substances in cannabis.
The two best-known cannabinoids are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). They’re also the two cannabinoids found most frequently in cannabis. THC is usually found in the highest volume, while CBD occurs in somewhat lower concentrations.
What do these two substances do and what’s the difference between them? The answers may surprise you.
THC
THC is by far the best-known of the cannabinoids. It’s responsible for most of the “stereotypical” effects people associate with cannabis: a feeling of relaxation, calm, drowsiness, and hunger.
THC is an effective
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Although cannabis naturally has a lower CBD concentration, it is possible to breed strains of medical cannabis that have higher CBD content and lower THC concentration.
These CBD-heavy strains have different effects than their THC-heavy cousins. Most patients report CBD strains help them feel more awake and alert. They may improve mental focus. They’re also known to suppress the appetite.
Nonetheless, CBD strains still provide effective relief of many symptoms, including chronic pain. Patients using strains with a high CBD content also report feelings of calm and
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Further, low-THC strains are often high in CBD, which has some similar effects.
So, is THC bad and have producers tried to eliminate it? Not necessarily! Picking a THC- or CBD-dominate strain has more to do with your medical needs.
Which Is Better?
As indicated above, CBD-dominant and THC-dominant strains both have their place in medical usage. CBD strains are often used during the day, while THC strains are favoured for nighttime use by many patients, since they promote drowsiness and sleep.
Ultimately, neither THC nor CBD is really “better” than the other. It all depends on what you hope to achieve with your medical marijuana treatment. If you want to treat insomnia or get to sleep during a chronic pain episode, a THC-dominant strain could be the right option. If you want to get up and move, then a CBD strain could be a better choice.
In the end, many patients may find a combination of both a THC strain and CBD strain will help them get through the day (and night). Some may look for a more balanced solution, somewhere between the two
CBD is just one compound in about 80 active chemicals in the marijuana plant. Unlike THC the psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana that makes you high, CBD is non-psychoactive. Medical marijuana is grown specifically for its high concentration of THC, but hemp is bred to contain the lowest concentrations of THC. So, when you buy CBD hemp oil rather than that made from medical marijuana, you are getting oil high in CBD with practically no significant amount of THC.
Thesis: Despite its legal status cannabis and CBD has been recognized as being beneficial in many ways. After all, cannabis and CBD has been medically beneficial when treating pain, seizures, and cancer.
First off it is important to understand the effects of cannabis use and its history. When smoking cannabis THC is the leading stimulant released.
While cannabis still has its own risks, it’s overall a much safer option to treat chronic pain. Plus, when patients take the correct strain and dose, it doesn’t get them high. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the non-psychoactive elements of cannabis that balances out THC—the psychoactive component. Many strains are meant to help relieve pain as well as improve mental clarity so patients can go about their daily lives. Compared to recreational users, patients need miniscule amounts of medical cannabis to obtain relief.
There are at least two active chemicals in marijuana that have medicinal benefits. One chemical is cannabidiol (CBD), which appears to impact the brain without a high. The second chemical is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which has pain relieving and other properties.
Marijuana is a relatively harmless drug that governments around the world have made illegal. If legalized, marijuana can be beneficial to society in a number of ways: whether it be for medical, economic, or public safety reasons. Marijuana has been proven to treat several life debilitating, and even life threatening diseases. Although it is not a cure, marijuana can ease the pain and suffering of a dying person. Another benefit of legalization is the financial gains that governments will accomplish through the taxation of marijuana. This is a realistic claim if marijuana sales are compared to that of cigarettes; governments make billions each year from cigarette taxes (Caputo and Ostrom 484). Every year law enforcement spends countless man-hours trying to apprehend marijuana dealers and growers. This time would be better utilized in dealing with more serious crimes. This essay will display some main reasons why marijuana is a substance with beneficial uses and applications. First, marijuana can be used as a treatment for the effects of diseases such as AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other terminal diseases. A study carried out in California clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of marijuana as a treatment for cancer: “Over 74 percent of the cancer patients treated in the program have reported that marijuana is more effective in relieving their nausea and vomiting than any other drug they have tried.”(Zeese 1990). Chemotherapy for cancer patients often produces nausea and vomiting. Marijuana has been proven to relieve these symptoms and there have been no known side effects recorded (Ad Hoc Group of Experts part 4).
The human body produces naturally occurring cannabinoids. The cannabinoids are lipophilic. Delta-8 and Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) have been found to produce most of the psychoactive effects of marijuana (Carter et al., 2003). Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol appears to be the most abundant cannabinoid and the main source of cannabis' impact. Cannabidiol is
THC causes the high feeling, but also reduces nausea, increases appetite, decreases inflammation, pain, and muscle problems. CBD can reduce pain and control epileptic seizures (“Is Marijuana Medicine”). There are dozens of other problems marijuana can help with, including: HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, glaucoma, Tourette syndrome, cancers, arthritis, and more. Treating these conditions doesn’t even mean you need to smoke cannabis or eat pot brownies, you don’t even need to get high. Using the chemicals and oils, like CBD, extracted from a cannabis plant, patients only need to take a drink, like a shot of cough syrup, to get the benefits without feeling high! The Culture High shares a story about a young boy named Jayden. When Jayden was not even 4 years old yet, he was having about 500 mini-seizures every day. By 4 ½ years old, Jayden was taking 22 pills per day. By 5 years old, he had consumed over 25,000 pills. When the outlook wasn’t getting better for Jayden, his father sought emergency medical advice. His father brought up medicinal marijuana and his doctor agreed anything was worth a shot. The first day Jayden used cannabidiol as medicine, he had his first seizure-free day. Jayden continued to use medicinal marijuana and
According to Martin Luther King Jr., “There are two types of laws: there are just and there are unjust laws” (King 293). During his time as civil rights leader, he advocated civil disobedience to fight the unjust laws against African-Americans in America. For instance, there was no punishment for the beatings imposed upon African-Americans or for the burning of their houses despite their blatant violent, criminal, and immoral demeanor. Yet, an African-American could be sentenced to jail for a passive disagreement with a white person such as not wanting to give up their seat to a white passenger on a public bus. Although these unjust laws have been righted, Americans still face other unjust laws in the twenty-first century.
...e patient; therefore showing its effectiveness in pain management. Smoked marijuana showed a subjective improvement of symptoms compared to a smoked false marijuana cigarette. With a single dose of cannabis, the best that can be achieved is nociceptive pain that is equivalent to a single dose of codeine 60 milligrams. In conclusion, cannabinoids are a modestly effective and safe treatment option for chronic non-cancer pain. On the other hand, there is room for more randomized controlled studies of cannabis, as well as pharmaceutical research and development based upon new understandings. Some of the effects that cannabinoids had on patients with chronic pain could be in part to underlying aspects of the patients life; therefore more comparative research to traditional pain medications could be made to enhance the results of the other studies that have been made.
Legalization of Marijuana has quickly become a controversial issue in America. In the United States, legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes is spreading to the state level. For example, in November 1996, the people of California and Arizona voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal reasons. As a result of Proposition 215 in California, patients now smoke marijuana provided their physician recommends its usage. A prescription is not required, and marijuana continues to be illegal to prescribe. The Clinton administration responded that it “would not recognize these decisions, and would prosecute physicians who recommend or provide marijuana to their patients.” Although California and Arizona are the only two states to have already passed laws regulating marijuana usage, twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have laws and resolutions regarding marijuana usage. These laws and resolutions range from establishing therapeutic research programs, to allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, to asking the federal government to lift the ban. Despite the states’ desires to have marijuana legalized for medicinal purposes, the US National Institutes of Health examined all existing clinical evidence about smoked marijuana and concluded that, “There is no scientifically sound evidence that smoked marijuana is medically superior to currently available therapies.”
The first law that regarded marijuana in America required farmers to grow hemp in the year 1619 for clothing, rope, and other materials, but “as early as 1840, doctors recognized the medical applications of marijuana, and the drug was freely sold in pharmacies for over a century.” (Rich and Stingl). In 1937, the use and possession of marijuana was made illegal, but “before 1937 marijuana was freely bought, sold, grown, and used.”(Rich and Stingl). In 1970 the congress decided to classify marijuana as a schedule one drug, which has made the legalization more difficult, “schedule one drugs are considered dangerous, addictive, and have no medical benefits.”(Rich and Stingl). Marijuana fits the schedule one drug classification because marijuana is dangerous to people’s health, has been found to be addictive if used daily, and also has no medical benefits because marijuana can cause more health problems than it can cure.
...ause of the psychoactive ingredient THC can cause paranoia and seizures. The CBD in marijuana may have many medical benefits but until more dispensaries reduce the amount of THC, it is still questionable weather some patients should use marijuana as a medicine. Marijuana can cause damage to premature developing brains and should be tested in a lab before giving to children.
The are several children that are born with Dravets syndrome which make them have several seizures and severe development delays. A little girl was born with this and she was having over 300 seizures a week and when they started giving her medical marijuana that is high in CBD and low in THC she was only having one seizure a week. There are 40 other children in her state also using the same strain and it seems to be working for them.
The growing awareness about the possible health benefits of CBD is starting to outweigh the controversy due to recent positive research.