Updated: Jan 20, 2022
The Difference Between CBD & THC? Here Are All Your Cannabinoid Questions, Answered
Photo by Oleg Zharsky
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There’s no doubt about it: Cannabis is going mainstream. Everywhere you look there’s a new CBD beauty or self-care product on the market, a CBD-based drug was just approved by the FDA to treat rare seizure disorders, and more and more states are voting in favor of recreational and/or medical marijuana. People are curious about the compounds (called cannabinoids) found in this plant—which has been used for its medicinal purposes for centuries—and how they might benefit their health, especially when it comes to reducing the use of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.
Despite its growing fame and recognition, there’s still a lot of misinformation about cannabis, hemp, CBD oil, and the industry in general, which doesn’t help its progress. As the health editor at Mindbody green and the author of the forthcoming book CBD Oil: Everyday Secrets, I know firsthand how important it is to get the facts straight so that more people can start getting access to and benefiting from cannabis. Here’s your new go-to guide to CBD, THC, and beyond.
The differences between the cannabinoids.
To begin, it’s important to know that when we talk about CBD, hemp oil, marijuana, and THC, we’re really talking about the cannabis plant and its derivates. Because while there are important legal differences between hemp and marijuana, when it comes to the science, hemp and marijuana are actually just two versions of the cannabis plant. This causes a lot of confusion (and it is, admittedly, confusing!), but it’s important to know that when we say cannabis, it applies to both marijuana and hemp.
endocannabinoid (ECS), which is often described as a major regulatory system. The ECS is responsible for the side effects (good and bad) of using cannabis—whether that be in the form of hemp oil, CBD oil, or smoking marijuana. The endocannabinoid system is composed of the endocannabinoids that the body produces naturally and also a family of receptors called cannabinoid receptors. The two cannabinoid receptors to know about are CB1 and CB2, and they explain in large part why cannabis has so many healing properties and also why THC causes intoxication while CBD does not.
Photo: @Nastasic
CBD versus THC.
Speaking of CBD and THC, it’s important to