Cannabis 101
Welcome to Cannabis 101. What we’re hoping to do here is to make this a place where people can come to find all kinds of medicinal, and holistic information about Cannabis. Believe it or not, Cannabis has a vast amount of health benefits we’re finding out as more research gets done.
Once the States started allowing medicinal, and recreational marijuana usage… studies began to take place. Some of those studies are finding that various compounds in cannabis have tremendous healing properties, and at this point we’re only touching the tip of the proverbial iceberg in regard to all the potential medicinal properties of this plant. Cannabis is also loaded with terpenes… usually stored in the trichomes on a flowering plant. Terpenes are also found all throughout Nature in a variety of plants, vegetables, and fruits… and is usually responsible for the fragrance, or flavor associated with them.
For instance Limonene is a common Terpene found in citrus fruit rinds. It’s what gives oranges, or lemons their citrus flavor and scent. It also contributes to the boost in someones high as it were… when consumed in cannabis. Once heated… the the THCA in marijuana becomes psychoactive, and the terpenes then contribute to the effects. Terpenes are very powerful, and we’re also finding out… very beneficial to the mind, and body even in very small amounts. Now while terpenes are found in nature in all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and flowers… you need to understand that by the time the food makes it to the supermarket… the terpenes have been destroyed. Unless you’re eating home grown vegetables, and fruits… you’re only getting about 10% of the terpenes available to you if you’re buying fresh. Anything processed has no terpenes because of the procedures used to package the food.
The trichomes also contain most of the THC, or the substance that causes the ‘high’ as it were. Cannabis has a number of cannabinoids as well… with THC, and CBD being the two most known. There are actually over 100 cannabinoids in marijuana. Our bodies are also equipped with an Endocannabinoid system that has receptors for utilizing CBD and THC. If you look at it from a medical standpoint… our bodies were literally designed to use cannabis.
