Opinion by Jake Crossman
The use of hemp plants has been around for thousands of years due to the plant’s healing and psychotropic abilities as well as some of the most common cannabinoids still in use today. Dating back to Ancient Central Asia where they primarily used hemp for its analgesic effects, and the plant’s ability to reduce stress and anxiety. It was here that our ancient ancestors started to extract certain properties from hemp plants – these were called cannabinoids.
This blog will cover the history of cannabinoids, where they come from, what their uses are, and discover what the most common cannabinoids are.
The Most Common Cannabinoids: What Is A Cannabinoid?
A Cannabinoid is any compound that is derived from a hemp plant and can interact with your body’s endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system or ECS is a system of receptors scattered throughout your body that interact with major organ systems – the ECS is responsible for the correct delivery of cannabinoids when they are introduced to the body. The most used are phytocannabinoids and tetrahydrocannabinol which is what this blog will be primarily covering. Phytocannabinoids are extracts such as CBD, CBG, CNC, etc. tetrahydrocannabinol is THC and its constituents which is where it gets its abbreviation from.
USA Medical only sells broad-spectrum phytocannabinoids which means they have 0.0% THC in them, so you are only getting the health benefits from these extracts and not experiencing any psychotropic effects. To date, there are over 120 cannabinoids that have been derived from hemp plants, all with varying different ways of interacting with your body’s endocannabinoid system. CBD and CBG are the two most effective phytocannabinoids that can help your body function at the highest, and most effective level possible.
Cannabidiol or CBD is probably the most popular phytocannabinoid because of its growing popularity and media attention in recent years. CBD is the second most prevalent cannabinoid after THC making it some of the most widely available substances from hemp plants on the market. CBD has been around for centuries but it has recently gained popularity again and is now used in an anti-seizure medicine that has been approved by the FDA.
Cannabigerol or CBG is considered the “stem cell” of all phytocannabinoids because it is one of the first phytocannabinoids present in the hemp plant. CBG has to be extracted from a sapling hemp plant, unlike its counterparts that are able to extract when the hemp plant has reached full maturity. The CBG extraction process has to be done quickly, if it is not then the CBG will start evolving into other cannabinoids. Because of this CBG is looked at as a “high-end” cannabinoid and costs significantly more than any constituents.
The Most Common Cannabinoids: What Do They Do?
The most common cannabinoids can do quite a lot regarding health and wellness. USA Medical only produces the highest quality CBD and CBG because these are the most common and some of the most effective in treating a variety of different ailments.
To briefly touch on it, THC which has psychotropic effects has been in the spotlight for hundreds of years. THC will get you high, and can cause certain side effects – however, THC is also known for being very helpful and treating certain diseases such as Parkinson’s and anxiety.
CBD has become one of the most common cannabinoids in recent years due to its ability to calm anxiety and stress while not making the user high. Broad-spectrum CBD is extracted in a way that it does not come into contact with THC at all which makes it have a 0.0% THC concentration and will not show up on drug panel tests. This makes it a very attractive alternative to THC.
Some of the main benefits of taking CBD every day is its ability to help the ECS create something called endocannabinoids – these are cannabinoids that are already located in our bodies. What is interesting about CBD, once it starts helping the body to create more endocannabinoids your body will start to heal itself. Unlike Ibuprofen or other pain medications that just dull pain CBD will tell your body to locate the source of the pain and start building ways to eliminate that pain and alert your body’s ECS to send relief if that pain is triggered again. This is one of the biggest advantages to users with chronic pain because the CBD will heal immediately as well as over time to solve the root of the issue.
As of late CBG has become highly studied and looked at phytocannabinoid due to its incredible ability to target and treat a variety of different health issues. In reference to earlier, it is very difficult to extract CBG since it needs to be done in a certain window of time for full efficacy. Unlike CBD, CBG has a mood-boosting effect that increases daytime energy. CBD will help you relax while CBG will help wake you up.
Much like CBD, CBG has a lot of beneficial properties that enable users to deal with a host of health issues. One of the biggest consumer selling points of CBG is an instant mood boost.
“CBG has been shown to increase anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid that helps regulate the immune system, sleep, appetite, and mood (prospiant).”
Because of this, it has become super popular among users in recent years as the new cannabinoid to use in place of CBD. The demand for CBG keeps growing because of how incredible the properties it has. Along with its stimulating and mood-boosting effects, CBG has several other health benefits as well such as:
- Reduces symptoms of depression
- Aids in cancer recovery
- Neuroprotective against Huntington’s Disease
- Reduces eye pressure that causes Glaucoma
- Fights Eczema
This list continues to grow as time goes on and more and more scientific studies are being done on this amazing cannabinoid. An interesting piece of this list to note is CBG for cancer recovery. Recently there has been a lot of research on using CBG on patients concurrently with harsher medicines that are used to aggressively treat cancer. The CBG has a lot of counter effects to the chemicals in those treatments and can make cancer a lot less painful for those recovering.
CBG is going to continue to make waves as a new cannabinoid that can help to change the face of how we look at a lot of modern-day treatments.
The Most Common Cannabinoids: Final Thoughts
To recap, while there are over 120 phytocannabinoids that have been discovered, the most common and most popular continue to be CBD and CBG. These are the most effective, safe, and easiest to purchase phytocannabinoids on the market. In the coming years, it is my opinion that CBG will edge out CBD for that top spot as the most used hemp extract in the world.
USA Medical is dedicated to ensuring that those who choose to shop our products are informed and can trust our brand completely. A lot of CBD companies will sell diluted or, in some cases even fake CBD products – this is not ok. Transparency is one of the key pillars we live by at our company and we want to continue to create the best products possible to ensure a healthier lifestyle is easy and accessible.
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Works Cited
Harli, Author: Meri. “How to Extract CBG Oil (Cannabigerol).” Prospiant, 31 Mar. 2022, https://www.prospiant.com/how-to-extract-cbg-oil/.
“Home – PMC – NCBI.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/.