Читать книгу CBD For Dummies - Blair Lauren Brown - Страница 50

As I discuss in Chapter 2, cannabinoids are a class of plant chemicals found in the cannabis plant that parallel your body’s own endocannabinoids — your internal human cannabinoids. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of many cannabinoids in any cannabis plant.

Cannabis is a broad umbrella term that may refer to up to three different plant types. Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis are all flowering plants that are informally just called cannabis. (Hemp, also known as industrial hemp, is a nonpsychoactive variety of the Cannabis sativa L. plant.)

What makes each of the varieties of cannabis similar, and historically prohibited, is that each contains a chemical compound known as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is the psychoactive compound in cannabis; it’s the compound that gives you a “high” (scientifically referred to as the “psychedelic experience”).

Almost the entire cannabis plant, from leaves to stalks to flowers and stems, contains CBD. However, the largest concentrations of cannabinoids are in the resins on the flowers of a cannabis plant. Common cannabis mythology suggests that hemp doesn’t bud and flower like other cannabis grown specifically for its THC and psychedelic properties. But more and more hemp is coming to full flower and being sold as CBD cannabis with variable amounts of THC — some as low as 0.3 percent, making it legally qualify as hemp in the United States.

CBD and THC have the same molecular formula (2 oxygen molecules, 30 hydrogen molecules, and 21 carbon molecules, if you’re interested). Despite their identical molecular composition, CBD and THC are different in several important ways:

 Their atomic arrangements are unique.

 CBD and THC interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system in very distinct ways that can affect your mood and physiology. For example, many people use CBD as an anti-anxiety treatment, while some studies have found that high concentrations of THC can increase anxious feelings.

 Legally speaking, THC is a controlled substance and CBD isn’t.

 CBD is more largely decriminalized. Nearly every U.S. state allows CBD products to be sold, with some inherent rules and regulations. But fewer than a dozen states have legalized the recreational use of THC-dominant products.