Components of Cannabis

As a stoner, you might be tempted to think that there is really nothing to your blunt. But, in reality, the average cannabis plant contains more than 120 different elements. These components are also known as cannabinoids and they can actually interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system. With so many different little parts of just one plant, it is a bit of a challenge for scientists to figure out what they are all meant to do. However, despite the relative lack of sufficient knowledge about all the other components, scientists are fairly knowledgeable about two specific elements. They are:

•     Cannabidiol (CBD)
•     Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)

1. Cannabidiol (CBD)

Cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. As such, it will not get you any of the intoxicating or euphoric effects that you want from weed. This particular component is where many of the health benefits of weed come from. Especially when separated from the other elements of weed, it helps to bring down pain and inflammation. But that isn’t all it can do. With cannabidiol, you can conveniently get relief from nausea, seizures, migraines, and varying levels of anxiety. Scientists are still conducting various studies and research projects to determine just how great it is. But, even in its basic stage, people across the world incorporate this element into their meals. More people use them as patches to relieve pain and reduce stress. Others use them as oils and creams to improve skin conditions. The best part is that, according to the World Health Organization, unless CBD is interfering with any of your other medication, you’re not likely to suffer any side effects. The list is truly endless, and if you weren’t impressed by weed before, we could bet that you are now.

2. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)

This one right here is responsible for that outer-worldly feeling you get every time you take a nice, sweet drag of your blunt. It is the primary psychoactive compound in weed. Without it, you might as well just be drinking a glass of water because you wouldn’t get high.

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Cannabis Positive Effects

Marijuana provides users with a wide range of therapeutic benefits. Effects will be different depending on the weed strain and the user.  Indica flowers tend to leave the user more relaxed and mellow, whereas Sativa dominant strains often result in a more upbeat and cerebral experience.

Beyond that, while using cannabis, there are other feelings and sensations that you might experience. They are:

•       A general feeling of giddiness or excitement
•       A pleasurably heightened perception of the things around you That is, you might generally feel more sensitive to light, sound, smells, etc. 
•       An increased appetite. This isn’t exactly as good as feeling like you’re on top of the world. But it isn’t a bad thing either.
• An increased amount of focus and creativity. In fact, this accounts for a major reason why many students and professionals in the creative industry use cannabis. In more ways than one, it can help make you more mentally productive. So much so that you can blow through tasks much more easily.

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Cannabis Medical Benefits

Being smoked for centuries for their medicinal properties, cannabis buds are highly aromatic and flavorful and come in a wide variety with thousands of different strains. In general, many medical marijuana patients use cannabis to ease stress and pain, and others use cannabis to promote hunger and induce sleep. Sativa strains can help with things such as anxiety.  Indica strains are often used as night time weed and help treat things such as trouble sleeping.

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Different Types of Cannabis 

There are literally thousands of different marijuana strains and within each strain are different qualities of buds that range from top shelf premium marijuana to cheap weed and budget buds. 

The 3 main categories of cannabis are:

Indica Strains

Indica weed is more of a body buzz type of high that promotes heavy sedation, euphoria and sleepiness. They are generally used during the night.

Sativa Strains

Sativa weed is more of a heady and uplifting experience and is typically a day time or afternoon cannabis strain.

Hybrid Strains

Hybrid strains are the best of both worlds.  They generally possess a nice balance between the Indica and Sativa effects.  

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Cannabis Flowers Vs Cannabis Concentrates:  

Marijuana flowers are much less potent than concentrates. It is recommended for newcomers to get their feet wet in regular cannabis before moving on to weed concentrates.

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Cannabis Flowers Vs Weed Edibles:

Cannabis edibles are much more potent and should be taken with care. Since cannabis edibles are ingested, they react differently to receptors, often resulting in more intense and longer couchlock sensations. 

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How to Grow Cannabis?

Marijuana is an easy plant to grow. It is a “weed” after all!  You just need some decent soil (or alternate growing medium), fertilizer/nutrients that are high in nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), a good source of light and you’re ready to go!  Of course, if you want premium weed, more experience and better equipment and tools are likely needed. 

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How to take Cannabis?

There are many different methods to pump yourself full of THC. The most common way is to smoke weed in a joint, bong, pipe, or dry herb vaporizer.  You can also turn cannabis buds into concentrates and infuse THC into food and create edibles to eat.  

Indeed, one of the most common methods through which people consume Kush is by smoking it. But, beyond that, there are so many other ways you can get the good stuff into your system. Each method has its own benefits and allows you to feel the effects over different periods. So, if you want to feel hits one wave after another or you want the rush all at once, there’s something for you. To break it down properly for you, here are the top methods of consuming cannabis.

1. Smoking

We can take a wild guess and say that this is the method you’re most familiar with. To break it down properly, we’d say that it involves inhaling cannabinoids that have been vaporized after burning them. Some people use pipes. Others use paper-wrapped joints. Another group of smoking instruments are bongs, which are portable variations of hookahs that have a chamber for water. For those who like things a bit more old-fashioned, there are also tobacco-leaf-wrapped blunts. Smoking cannabis, compared to other methods, allows you to feel all the good effects in just a couple of minutes. 

2. Vaporizing

This method involves heating up the cannabis to temperatures of about 160 – 190-degree Celsius. This causes the main psychoactive ingredients, among others, to become vaporized by means of evaporation. Unlike smoking, it doesn’t burn the plant material. Afterwards, the vapour is inhaled to get a high feeling. Some might say that it is healthier because it doesn’t involve inhaling smoke directly into your lungs. But little is known about this claim. Nevertheless, cannabis isn’t so dangerous, regardless of how it is taken.

3. Tea

As the name implies, this method involves making cannabis into tea and then drinking it. If you choose to try out this method, you should know that you might not get as high as you’d want. The reason is that THC Is an oil-based component. It isn’t very water-soluble. As such, it might not dissolve properly into the tea. Nevertheless, it’s worth a shot. Making the tea is simple enough. Simply add cream or milk to hot water, and add your cannabis. Your milk can be of any type except skimmed.

4. Capsules

This form of consumption is often more medicinal than recreational. It usually contains a substantial amount of cannabis oil alongside some other dietary supplements. These capsules, containing CBD oil, often have virtually as many health benefits as cannabis has to offer.

5. Edibles

Some people would much rather take their cannabis this way than any other. It involves cooking your weed into whatever meal you’re preparing. This could be anything from brownies to cakes to cookies and virtually everything else in between. Besides giving your meal that edgy ganja taste, it also makes you high as a kite. The best part is that if you like to feel your hits in waves, this is perfect for you. Because the weed needs to digest alongside your food, you can take your time.

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How to Store Cannabis?

The best way to store cannabis is in an airtight bag/container and keep it in a cool and dark place. Light and warmth degrades terpenes and shortens the weed's shelf life. If the goal is to store a larger quantity for a longer period of time, it is recommended to vacuum seal the cannabis and store it in the freezer in an appropriate typed bag. 

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Cannabis/Ganja Side Effects:

The good news about cannabis is that serious side effects are uncommon. However, there are cannabis studies that show that marijuana does have a bit of a dark side with potential negative effects.  Dry mouth and dry eyes are the most common problems and are merely minor inconveniences.  However, dizziness, paranoia, headaches, nausea and anxiety are reported in cases of excessive use. The good thing is that even if you do get any of these side effects, they are often very minor and subside relatively quickly.

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Overdose on THC?

Tetrahydrocannabinol, as we clarified earlier, is a naturally occurring component within the cannabis plant. As such, it has a considerably low level of toxicity. So low that if you want to kill a rodent with it by overdosing, you’ll have to feed it a truckload of cannabis. Of course, “truckload” is a bit of an exaggeration, but the quantity required for an overdose in rodents is incredibly high. In human beings, with our much larger size, metabolism, and tolerance level, it is nearly impossible for us to overdose on the plant. In fact, there’s barely any recorded case of a THC overdose. So, essentially, you’d probably have to take in an actual truckload of THC for you to even get close to OD.

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Sources:

• Zerrin Atakan. Cannabis, a complex plant: different compounds and different effects on individuals. Accessed Dec. 24th, 2020 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3736954/.
• Pál Pacher, Sándor Bátkai, and George Kunos. The Endocannabinoid System as an Emerging Target of Pharmacotherapy. Accessed Dec. 24th, 2020 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2241751/
• Peter Grinspoon, MD. Cannabidiol (CBD) – What we know and what we don’t. Accessed Dec. 24th, 2020 at https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/cannabidiol-cbd-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont-2018082414476.
• What is THC? Very Well Mind. Accessed Dec. 24th, 2020 at https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-thc-in-marijuana-4080556.
• Expert Committee on Drug Dependence Thirty-ninth Meeting, Geneva, 6-10 November, 2017. Cannabidiol (CBD) Pre-Review Report Agenda Item 5.2. Accessed Dec. 24th, 2020 at http://www.who.int/medicines/access/controlled-substances/5.2_CBD.pdf.
• WebMD Medical Reference Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS on August 20, 2020: Medical Marijuana FAQ Accessed at https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/medical-marijuana-faq#1-2
• BC Weed Delivery. (2022, March 6). Find the best cannabis dispensaries in British Columbia, Canada. Available at: https://bcweeddelivery.org/
• Jacob T. Borodovsky, B.A., Benjamin S. Crosier, PhD, […], and Alan J. Budney, PhD. Smoking, Vaping, Eating: Is Legalization Impacting the Way People Use Cannabis? Accessed Dec. 24th, 2020 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5010515/.

•     Hazekamp A: The Trouble with CBD Oil. Med Cannabis Cannabinoids 2018;1:65-72. https://doi.org/10.1159/000489287 https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/489287#