Minor Cannabinoids
MINOR CANNABINOIDS
By now we are all familiar with the two main cannabinoids, CBD & THC… and if you’ve come this far, you probably now possess enough knowledge on CBG, the mother! These three phenomenal cannabinoids are not the only ones, with 110 minor cannabinoids being extracted to date. These medicinal compounds, unique to cannabis alone, can be very different from each other in terms of their effects and medicinal benefits. So, if you want to know how your cannabis will affect you, learning about the different cannabinoids is the first step.
I won’t bore you with a full description of all the remaining cannabinoids, however will touch base on a distinguished few. Starting off with a couple of inactivated cannabinoids, found in raw cannabis flower, that are starting to gain some popularity, especially among health & wellness channels - THC-A and CBD-A, which you may know as the acidic forms of our friends’ THC and CBD.
THC-A is present in cannabis flower before heat is applied and decarboxylates, or “activates”, the non-psychoactive THC-A into Delta-9-THC, which then produces a high on consumption - the same is true of CBD-A, although decarboxylated CBD is non-intoxicating.
These acidic cannabinoids are of particular interest to those who juice whole plant cannabis or consume the leaves orally without applying any heat in an effort to get medicinal benefits without any of the psychoactivity associated with traditional consumption.
You may have heard of another form of THC called Delta-8-THC - this version of THC is only a few molecular bonds different from the main Delta-9-THC inhaled when smoking.
Delta-8-THC is reported to be less psychoactive than its more popular cousin, with a more clear-headed high that is usually characterized by body relaxation, but it has also shown some promising medicinal benefits that have led to a rise in its popularity recently, which we’ll discuss at more length in the next section.
THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS; CBC, CBN, THCV
CBC , or cannabichromene, is especially mysterious even amongst a class of relatively unknown compounds. This is mostly due to the scarcity of CBC in cannabis varietals, as it is produced as the result of a recessive gene that is only expressed under specific conditions.
Like CBG and CBD, CBC interacts with the Endocannabinoid System indirectly, and therefore does not cause intoxication on consumption - though it may naturally support mood elevation by encouraging the action of our natural endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-AG.
This cannabinoid has also been shown to support the action of other cannabinoids in cannabis through the Entourage Effect, allowing more medicinal benefit from major cannabinoids THC and CBD at lower doses.
CBN , or cannabinol, has the distinction of often being associated with the freshness (or lack thereof) of cannabis flower, as CBN is produced through the degradation of THC over time. This cannabinoid has a reputation for causing extreme couch-lock and drowsiness, though the exact mechanism of this effect is not yet clear and is somewhat debated amongst cannabis researchers.
Recent science indicates that the sedative effects produced from overly-aged cannabis may actually be the result of a synergistic action of THC and CBN together, not just higher quantities of CBN on its own. Renowned cannabis researcher Ethan Russo has also suggested that the sedation typically noticed with aged cannabis could be a result of the remaining concentration of more hearty terpenes that resist degrading as cannabis ages, especially the couch-lock terpene Myrcene, rather than only a function of CBN content.
More research will be needed to fully understand the effects of this late-stage cannabinoid in isolation and as part of the Entourage Effect, but that hasn’t stopped some interested consumers from trying CBN’s medicinal applications, which we’ll cover in the next section.
THCV , or tetrahydrocannabivarin, was one of the first minor cannabinoids to gain widespread interest because of its unique effects among phytocannabinoids. Like THC, THCV is biphasic, which means it produces a certain effect at low doses, but a near-opposite effect at higher doses.
At low doses, THCV is non-intoxicating like many of the other minor cannabinoids we’ve covered. However, high doses of THCV do induce a high by activating the CB1 receptors in the brain - but since the activation is indirect (rather than the direct binding activation of Delta-9-THC) the high-inducing effects of THCV only last about half as long as Delta-9-THC, and the tone of the experience is often described as more consistently high-energy and less foggy than that of traditional whole plant cannabis.
This minor cannabinoid also has a host of unique medicinal benefits, the most interesting of which has led it to be nicknamed “Skinny Weed”.
We’re also just starting to learn about a brand-new minor cannabinoid thanks to some recent scientific research - the unique compound Delta-9-THCP, or tetrahydrocannabiphorol. This new THC metabolite was just isolated for the first time in 2019, along with a similar analogue for CBD called CBDP, and is produced naturally.
However, it has so far only been identified in a single medicinal cannabis strain in this study, so it is not likely that you will see this cannabinoid in widespread cannabis products or commercial strains in the very near future. That said, it is still likely to start generating buzz for its unique properties - specifically, this study found THCP to be significantly more intoxicating than standard Delta-9-THC thanks to its higher binding affinity to our brain’s CB1 receptors of the Endocannabinoid System, the same mechanism that produces Delta-9-THC’s euphoric effects.
This cannabinoid also possesses a much higher binding affinity for the more therapeutic CB2 receptor as well, which could lead to the development of medicines against nausea, pain, and inflammation with this novel cannabinoid. Much more research will be needed to fully understand THCP, as we are still on the cutting edge of cannabinoid science.
