All the Cannabinoids in Marijuana That Aren't THC

The CBD and THC in marijuana is getting all the attention these days, but many other cannabinoids hold untapped healing compounds.

The Crux
By James David Adams, University of Southern California
Mar 25, 2019 9:15 PMNov 11, 2020 6:15 PM
Cannabis Marijuana Pot Weed - Shutterstock
(Credit: PRO Stock Professional/Shutterstock)

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Medical marijuana is legal in 33 states as of November 2018. Yet the federal government still insists marijuana has no legal use and is easy to abuse. In the meantime, medical marijuana dispensaries have an increasing array of products available for pain, anxiety, sex and more.

The glass counters and their jars of products in the dispensary resemble an 18th century pharmacy. Many strains for sale have evocative and magical names like Blue Dream, Bubba Kush and Chocolope. But what does it all mean? Are there really differences in the medical qualities of the various strains? Or, are the different strains with the fanciful names all just advertising gimmicks?

Rafael, a Chumash who shared Californian Native American cultural knowledge with anthropologists in the 1800s. (Credit: Leon de Cessac)

I am a professor in the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy. I have lived in California a long time and remember the Haight-Ashbury Summer of Love. While in graduate school, I worked with professor Alexander Shulgin, the father of designer drugs, who taught me the chemistry of medicinal plants. Afterwards, while a professor at USC, I learned Chumash healing from a Native American Chumash healer for 14 years from 1998 until 2012. She taught me how to make medicines from Californian plants, but not marijuana, which is not native to the U.S. Currently, I am teaching a course in medical marijuana to pharmacy students.

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