One of the reasons that cannabinoid research hasn’t taken off as quickly as some people might have expected it to is that pot has long been a controlled substance. While all cannabinoids don’t come from pot, tetrahydrocannabinol does. That has made it a tricky area of research even though it does have many healing benefits.
Marijuana is often referred to as pot or weed. It comes from the cannabis plant family and contains hundreds of compounds that affect the way that it influences humans and animals when it’s consumed. These compounds also influence the flavor and healing properties of the plant.
Weed has been used as a plant medicine for centuries. But many people shy away from it because they don’t want to get high. That’s completely understandable.
The main psychoactive component in weed is tetrahydrocannabinol. This is the compound that intoxicates you.
Every strain of pot contains different levels of tetrahydrocannabinol. The way that someone grows weed can affect the tetrahydrocannabinol potency in the plant. When the plant contains more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol, it’s considered marijuana. When it contains 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol or less, it’s considered hemp.
Benefits of Tetrahydrocannabinol
Even if you don’t like the idea of getting high from tetrahydrocannabinol, keep in mind that the compound has many beneficial properties. Medical pot usually refers to products from this plant family that contains tetrahydrocannabinol, but some people use it to describe products that contain cannabidiol, which we describe in more detail below.
Harvard Health reports that tetrahydrocannabinol is often used to relieve chronic pain. People also use tetrahydrocannabinol products to treat the following conditions:
• Appetite issues and anorexia
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Cancer
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Glaucoma
• Mental health conditions
• Multiple sclerosis
• Muscle spasms
However, medical pot that contains tetrahydrocannabinol isn’t legal in every state. If you want to take advantage of the healing power of cannabinoids without breaking the law or getting high, you might want to look into the benefits of cannabidiol.
