The two most prominent cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant
By Sammy Davidoff
In honor of April being Cannabis Awareness Month it only made sense to do a blog post diving deeper into the differences between THC and CBD, as they are the two most prominent components of the cannabis plant. There seems to always be some confusion, amongst people that are new to cannabis, about what the difference is and if CBD will get them high. Both compounds do trigger your body’s endocannabinoid system, but the effects are very different.
According to Healthline, the molecular structure of both THC and CBD is essentially the same, but the difference in how the atoms are arranged correlates to the different effects they have on you. A major difference between the two is that CBD is psychoactive, just not in the same way that THC is. It doesn’t produce the high associated with THC. CBD’s psychoactive effects are shown to simply help with anxiety, depression, and seizures. It’s an overall calmness rather than a euphoric effect. Whereas THC binds with the cannabinoid 1 receptors in the brain and thus produces a high or sense of euphoria.
They both have what I'd like to call healing powers in that both THC and CBD products can be used to get relief from several medical conditions, mental and physical. Some of the conditions CBD is often used to help with are seizures, inflammation, pain, inflammatory bowel disease, nausea, migraines, depression, and anxiety. THC is known to help with pain, insomnia, nausea, low appetite, anxiety, glaucoma, and muscle spasticity.
It is evident that cannabis can have tremendous benefits for us physically and mentally and yet it is still frowned upon by some. However, there are a few temporary side effects that can occur from either the strain or amount of THC you ingest. Anxiety, increased heart rate, slower reaction times, and redness in the eyes are a few of the common ones. I personally have had my moments where I’ve had too much THC and it leads to anxiety. It’s definitely an odd feeling, but I know now going into taking any kind of THC that it’s better to start small and see how you feel to avoid side effects like that. Now with CBD, there will never be an instance of you getting paranoid or anxious, like you may worry about with THC, because it doesn’t have the same psychoactive effects. The only common results of taking “too much” CBD are often just a noticeable sleepiness or calmness, and that sounds like a pretty good problem to have!