With cannabis and cannabis-related products becoming more available to the general public, it’s important to understand how the medical compounds within the products interact with your body at a biochemical level.
Pharmaceutical companies are currently working on creating cannabinoid-specific medicine. This means that they focus on either CBD or THC as the base of their medicine.
However, the cannabis community has long been raving about “whole plant medicine” - and for good reason. Cannabinoids work together to provide a higher degree of medical relief. This process is better known as the Entourage Effect or the Net Effect.
Before we talk about the Entourage Effect in more detail,let’s first take a look at THC and CBD topicals individually.
There are numerous medical benefits when it comes to THC-infused topicals. For starters, seeing that topicals are ‘area specific’ medication, you can treat a wide range of conditions with it. From pain and inflammation to alleviating itches, scratches or even bug bites.
This is because THC has a lot of medical properties, including;
As you can see, there are plenty of medicinal benefits to THC. Since THC needs to enter the bloodstream to produce its euphoric effects, applying it topically won’t get you high as it doesn’t reach the bloodstream via topicals. Only trans-dermal topicals will have the ability to get you high.
CBD is another cannabinoid that has been making its round within the medical community. This is because it also provides a wealth of medical benefits including;
Similar to THC, CBD provides a lot of medical benefits to users. The only major difference between these two, apart from the chemical structure, is that CBD cannot get you high. In fact, CBD is the counter-weight to the euphoric effects of THC.
However, when you put these together they create a powerful combination that provides you with more health benefits.
As mentioned, when cannabinoids work together, they produce the entourage effect. To explain this to the user; it’s similar to the ‘manysticks’ example.
When you have one stick and try to break it, it’s very easy.However, take 10 small sticks and clump them together and it becomes nearly impossible to break with your hands.
Similarly, the compounding effects of THC and CBD work together to provide greater medical relief to the user. This is because THC and CBD bind to different cannabinoid receptors and in turn generate higher endocannabinoid activities.
The endocannabinoid system is responsible for the immune system, regulating the neural activities throughout the body and much more.
This is why when you have a product that contains both CBD and THC, you’re getting more medical benefit (value) for your buck. This doesn’t mean that separately they are any less effective, it simply means that combining them generates a more acute sense of relief.
