Marijuana: It’s Not Just THC
One thing that drives me crazy is the tendency of the media and others to refer to THC as “the active ingredient” in marijuana. While THC is indeed responsible for marijuana’s “high,” it is one of about 80 unique compounds, called cannabinoids, that are not seen in any other plant. Many of these have interesting, potentially significant, medical applications, and are not psychoactive.
Anyone who wants to learn about these other cannabinoids should check out this recent review published in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.
The article devotes a lot of space to cannabidiol (CBD), the most studied of these compounds, noting that “CBD exerts several positive pharmacological effects that make it a highly attractive therapeutic entity in inflammation, diabetes, cancer and affective or neurodegenerative diseases.” Notably, CBD has antipsychotic actions, but fewer side effects than “typical antipsychotics.” Lots of other cannabinoids have potentially useful properties as well. For example, cannabichromene has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity, plus “modest” analgesic effect.
The article tends to be a bit dismissive of THC because of its psychoactivity, and focuses mainly on cannabinoids as individual chemicals rather than as components of an herbal medicine that has proven extraordinarily useful in its natural form (biases that are pretty much typical in the medical literature), but even with these limitations, it’s an important read.
Tagged with: cancer and cannabinoids and CBD and inflammation and science and THC by the author
36 comments
I believe that once pharmaceutical companies realize the financial benefit to them that will come when they are able to start working on isolating cannabinoids such as cannabidiol to provide more specific medications for specific ailments we will see a relaxing of the laws forbidding research on cannabis.
Think about it, how likely are they to be sued over a cannabidiol or a cannabidiol derivative than they are for the more dangerous alternatives on the market now. How many people will want this drug? This will be what turns the tide; when they can make their big money while for the first time in a long time providing the consumers and the patients safe and effective medications we will see a watershed event.
It is said that Americans do not resent the rich, they want to BE rich. Well, when did it become the common belief among the major corporations that the way to get rich was to deny people effective treatments in favor of the ones they understood and knew how to make a profit on. It is time they got it together and realized the potential here.
Let truth do its job and the people will follow.
The Prohibionist and the California Narcotic Officers still would not understand what that means.
uhh… everyone keeps thinking (an wrongly, i might add) that these pharmacys an the gov. in general care about the health an well-being of its citizens. there after the paper trail not a truely better tomarow. a cure for herpes would stop the problem in 1 dose. wheres the money in that? they just make u pay more and in instalments. welcome to the “free-est” nation on earth. psh, we heard the peoples voice in many survays saying we want legal weed, but sadly, an yes i know im rambling on, there is nothing we can do about it unless a true visionary (like myself and everyone who reads this an agrees) to work our way into congress. tony haupt president 2032
Ever wonder why Marinol is filled with THC and no other cannabinoids?
They basically strip away all the therapudic properties of cannabis and overload this pill with the main PSYCHOACTIVE ingredient of cannabis and call it medication.
What’s wrong with this?
hi guys, just wantd to post this document.
http://vidreel.com/video/NTc2ODU5/
this is a really good document, and it shows you the true colors of our goverment. Please Watch nd enjoy =)
its calld CampFema: AMERICAN LOCKDOWN.
THC, CBD, blah, blah, blah. WHAT’S UP MASSACHUESITTS!!!! BIG DEBATE TOMORROW. Goooooooooo MASSACHUESITTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
MASSACHUSETTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yea im pumped about the legalization hearing tomorrow…. i might not be able to make it tho
( i hope someone tapes it and puts it on youtube….. massachusetts has more pot smokers per capita than california…. just about every person in mass knows at least 1 person who smokes pot and can see how benign it really is……
I just hope that the government will one day soon legelize it so i dont have to wonder what will i do for medication…i can just grow it…
I’d love, love, love to know precisely which compound is responsible for relieving the “side effects” associated with migraines …. a line of flashing multicolored lights that works it’s way clockwise until it completes a circle and a blind spot in the exact center of my field of vision, which grows to fill the circle…needless to say, when the circle is complete, there are alot of things I can’t do…forget driving…or reading…or blogging at MPP (wow, I said blogging, my kids would be so proud)…in other words anything that requires SIGHT! I’m out of commision for anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours…luckily, I’m one of the rare ones that more often than not, I don’t get the actual headache (when I do, it’s a killer). But here’s the thing, about 5 years ago, I discovered that if I take just a couple of tokes, the lights and blind spot episode runs it’s course in about 15 minutes (1/2 hour tops) and if I get the headache, it’s very mild…and gone in another 15 minutes. If they could find out what specific compound does this, well that’d be just peachy…because, believe it or not, I don’t always just want to catch a buzz…sometimes I just want relief…whoda thought!
I just read the review…tetrahydrocannabivarin….I’d not be surprised to find out this is what’s working for me…oh happy day
When God looked down on Earth and all that he was creating he saw that man needed food for his mind and body, so God created seed bearing plants of every kind for man to use.
Man stood before God in the Garden of Eden and God spoke to man telling him, ‘You may eat any of the fruit of the garden, but you are not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge.’
God had prohibited the fruit of the tree of knowledge to man and no other fruit was forbidden.
After man had ignored God’s will and eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge, man was cast out of the garden.
Mans numbers multiplied upon the face of the earth and man settled into lands from horizon to horizon.
In his search for essential food in these lands man tamed and utilized the wild plants that were upon the land that God had placed there.
Grasses were harvested, berries from the vine were gleaned and fruit from the trees were gathered.
The methods of preparation and uses for the foods were learned by man so that man lived in harmony with the abundance of fruit that God had provided for him.
Man learned that some plants were good for eating, some plants good for building with and that some plants were good as medicine.
God had created Cannabis.
God added all the different chemicals to Cannabis that can not be found in any other plants.
In giving Cannabis to man, God had given a plant that was just as important to man as any plant that bears ripe and succulent fruit to eat.
Whereas most of the plants that are used by man are mostly constrained in their uses by the limited number of chemicals that they contain, it is Cannabis that is superior in its uses due to its abundant chemical composition.
When God formed man, God formed man to receive the Cannabis chemicals that God was giving man for his mind and his body.
Those men who refrain from giving their bodies and minds nourishment from Cannabis are in rebellion of Gods goodness and
generosity and have corrupted the natural God given state of being of their bodies and minds.
Today we live in a world where many people are deficient in Cannabis chemicals in their minds and are unaware that they are not in the natural state that God had intended man to be in.
It drives me crazy too Bruce. That’s why I try to refer to THC as the main psychoactive compound, and correct people as I hear it.
You know God made something when a plant like marijuana exists. Unique and 100% synergistic with the chemistry of the human body. A psychoactive drug that contains an anti-psychoactive compound! What a beautiful paradox. We could never design or create, anything like this. All our stupid synthetic drugs pale in comparison.
THC will be the ‘buzz word’ until more education about marijuana becomes common. even this simple post helps get the word out about all the other cannabinoids and miracles.
as for God and cannabis…
i am very suprised that prohibitionists DO NOT, in their propaganda, have Adam and Eve smoke a joint as opposed to eating an apple in the garden.
Most marijuana users are so ignorant of science that to tell them about “how” marijuana works is a buzz kill. How do we motivate people that have no desire to be motivated. They don’t care about the fight activist are taking on for them; the only concern is to capitalize on the movement.
I try so hard to activate other pro-cannabis people. I say go to mpp.org and make your voice heard. I appeal to compassion. But these new gen. pot heads are mostly anglo and have good money, so they don’t care that hispanics and blacks bear the brunt of this disparity, they just don’t care.
White America seems to only care about itself.
Chris #17 “Most marijuana users are so ignorant of science”
swing and a miss. that might be the case where you live, or for those of who you know, but that is not the norm at all.
STAMMMP @ #13
Have you ever thought that the “forbidden fruit” could actually be Cannabis?…. the fruit if knowledge?
to further complicate things… you talk about how “mans numbers multiplied” but how EXACTLY did that occur if “god” only created Adam and Eve? Either you believe we developed from incest or you believe “god” created more people that the bible never talks about… if the latter is your belief, then why would “god” create these people with “original sin”.
The Point Is…. this is a scientific auguement about the medical efficacy if cannabis… relying on a belief in a mystical being is just as bad as a belief in the “dangerous” nature of cannabis. Both ideas are ficticious at best and more likely they are a sign of dillusion.
#17 Tank you for being active towards ending prohibition. But…
new gen. pot heads ??? ok so kids are stupid, what’s new? I didn’t care untill I matured either. “White America seems to only care about itself” = not only racist, but completely untrue. Kids don’t care, regardless of their racial origins, I refer to it as immaturity, don’t worry it’s(hopefully) temporary.
To Chris #17. Dude you got to be careful when you make statements like that. Too many intelligent pot-heads are on this site that will tear you up for saying something like that. I know plenty of people of different colors and various income who all very much care about the process of legalization in this country. Should never generalize like that unless you have specific facts. I actually got offended being a white American myself.
Keep up the good fight and if you feel people in your area are not well educated on the benefits of marijuana and the activist movement in general then it’s only fair that you should try and bring the truth to them.
Free The Weed. Free The People.
Not so, Chris in NM. We care. Some people just know how futile it is to go to your government on bended knee to ask permission for something people are going to do anyway. “Please O great ones, may we please have our rights back?” Why attempt a compromise with the beast? They ain’t exactly handing out rights these days. This country is already too far gone, in more ways than just cannabis prohibition.
The cannabis plant is miraculous. It can be used medicinally to relieve a variety of ailments. it can be used industrially to produce clothes, fuel, paper, etc. However this PLANT is illegal. There are several PLANTS that I could LEGALLY grow in my home that are POISONOUS and can KILL someone who eats them: Foxglove, Jimson Weed, Oleander, Century Plant just to name a few. Can you see the government’s hypocrisy yet?? I’ve started using this arguement when talking with Prohibitionists and it works. Keep up the fight!
We need a peaceful revolution in this country. Our government does as it pleases , does so whether the people want it or not. Look at the bills they pass and the fashion in which they pass them. Look at this health care bill. Last I seen a majority of Americans dont want it. What ever side you are on they will pass it whether you want it or not. TIME FOR REAL CHANGE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE!
The pharmaceutical companies already realize the financial benefit #1 JohnInOhio.
Thanks Bruce for the link.
This was on CNN yesterday and Obama said he will consider the legalization and of course taxation of pot. Call the number and press # to voice your vote.
973-409-3274 listen to message, press # to record your vote
Feel so much better that I do not participate in the lame street media anymore. What a load of controlled and dis-information, based on their agenda at the time. Sorry, I can’t get behind giving this criminal corporate-tocracy government one more penny. What are they going to do with the money ? If anything, I vote for revenge, when the appropriate time comes, for all the grief and hardship caused to millions of people worldwide, over the prohibition and criminalization of the Cannabis plant. Does anyone still really think Obama has any power ? Power…. of a puppet….you know when the war with Iran begins, all the sheeple will think their Obaaaaaaaama is killing all those Iranians for peace…hahaha…yeah, he did just win the Nobel Peace prize.
MPP: I’m always hesitant to call a phone number listed by a commenter on the blog. Is #26 valid?
#27 nesomania: “I vote for revenge, when the appropriate time comes, for all the grief and hardship caused to millions of people worldwide, over the prohibition and criminalization of the Cannabis plant.”
I’m with you on the grief and hardship caused to millions of people worldwide … but how would revenge solve anything?
Still no freedom. Why can’t big bro just leave us alone and let us have our meds? MONEY! They tell us about how cannabis has no medical value while they are trying to patent it’s chemical compounds. I have no right to tell any one else what to do in their own home and I don’t want to be told what I can do in mine. Big pharma keeps telling us cannabis is harmful for us to use but it is perfectly fine for them to make pills and liquids that they can sell to us from the same plant. That is greed, bred by our own goverenment. Obama all ready knows about this issue and it will be his re election platform.
Lea #28… i would not call it…. a lot of posts online say that CNN ran a story on it but there is no youtube clips of it and nothing on the CNN website…. there are nothing but claims online with no proof…..
Lea: The number is a working number and no it will not charge your phone line any money. The phone number has been going around for at least a year and really has no affiliation with the White House. The group says that once it reaches 1 million calls that it will present Obama with a petition to legalize cannabis. PErsonally I think your better off just writing Obama a letter and mailing it to the White House…
BTW – you don’t need a phone for twitter… you can check statuses and send “tweets” on your computer…
http://www.twitter.com/DarthNole
Just to be clear, there has never been any indication from the White House that they will do anything in response to this poll. The claim that Obama said on CNN that he would respond to it is made up.
Bruce, thanks for that clarification. And to all of us: There really is nothing so powerful as a personal letter from a constituent. Here’s one I recently sent to my Congressperson (a supporter of Hinchey-Rohrbacher, hence that inclusion, but otherwise useful for passing along to other elected officials. Hey, this plus a 42 cent stamp is a good investment!).
Dear [Congressperson's name]:
I’m writing to ask that you consider becoming a co-sponsor of HR 2835, the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act. You have courageously supported the Hinchey-Rohrbacher amendment in the past, and HR 2835 provides another opportunity for you to be a powerful voice for the good of the American people. This is an important area for champions of both personal liberty and States’ rights to acknowledge that medical decision making belongs to doctors and patients, not law enforcement agencies and criminal prosecutors.
Sometimes the discussion about the medical use of marijuana gets mixed together with concerns about generalized legalization of marijuana. I know that you’re already aware that marijuana in various forms, not necessarily smoked, has been used therapeutically for centuries in many parts of the world. Marijuana appears to provide relief from pain, nausea, and other symptoms, with fewer ill effects and a greater margin of safety than many other classes of drugs. In particular, marijuana appears to be far safer than the narcotic drugs commonly administered for pain, and safer even than the non-narcotic drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen and related compounds that are responsible for a few hundred fatal poisonings each year (http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm).
In 2008, the American College of Physicians stated: “Evidence not only supports the use of medical marijuana in certain conditions but also suggests numerous indications for cannabinoids. Additional research is needed to further clarify the therapeutic value of cannabinoids and determine optimal routes of administration. The science on medical marijuana should not be obscured or hindered by the debate surrounding the legalization of marijuana for general use.” (http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/other_issues/medmarijuana.pdf)
Thank you for taking the time to consider HR 2835; I would be really pleased to hear that you have signed on as a co-sponsor of this important legislation for well being of so many Americans.
Bruce, if the white house is not going to respond, why is this number still being passed around? I called this number over two months ago and have heard nothing about how many have called in.
st dance with mary jaaaane one more time to kill the paaaaaaain
Community and Self Health is not just the absence of disease.
Cannabis has prophylactic effects where the taking of cannabis before something goes wrong is the perogative of the informed consumer. If I can, by way of informed consent, consent NOT to have a certain treatment even at teh risk of early death (ie: chemo/radiation) then it stands to reason that I can also choose ‘one of the safest therapeutics known to man’ to alleviate that which ails me, or should I wish, that that might. Such health choices I make are my perogative, not ones restricted or defined by the whim of another that defines boundaries to any consent I give to myself. Beyond that boundary that is ‘the self’ the state has no interest. The State, by its confounding of medpot AND recreational (practice) use is thus medically interfering with and endangering my right to those informed choices. It is only by my mastery of those choices that I am empowered. The removal of those choices, affecting both self will and self healing, is bad medicine. First do no harm.
Leave a Comment