THC, CBD, & the Entourage Effect

CBD is taking over the cannabis industry at the moment. The cannabinoid that doesn’t get you high has shown a lot of potential in the medical sphere and helps alleviate many symptoms from a  number of different conditions. Across the world, you can find just about anything with infused CBD. Anything from the standard CBD tinctures, capsules, and pet treats to the more interesting CBD coffee or ice cream.

However, CBD may be limited by the laws and regulations placed on this compound. The general idea is that CBD is medical while THC is recreational. With that said, studies have shown that a combination of the two can improve how effective your medicine is.

THC + CBD

Before there were such efficient methods of breeding cannabis, marijuana contained much less THC than it does now and had higher levels of CBD. But over time, the priority for cannabis breeders was high potency in their flower as this is what recreational consumers are looking for. In effect, this has bred out large amounts of CBD once found in the plant.

It has only been in the last 10 years that researchers have started to understand that CBD is just as important as THC in terms of their medicinal properties. Researchers started putting some effort into studying CBD as well as its relationship with THC.

The Entourage Effect

What they eventually ended up discovering was the Entourage Effect. To put it simply, this is the fact that whole-plant cannabis works better than when they are isolated. So CBD or THC will provide some medical properties when used on their own, but will work much better when used in conjunction.

A Balancing Act

This doesn’t mean that using CBD on its own is a waste of time, it just means that you can actually get even more out of the plant. So if you do want to combine the two, it becomes about finding the right ratio for you. In dispensaries overseas, you can find a number of products with various ratios of THC to CBD. However, here in South Africa, it will take some of your own experimentation to get it right.

This might mean taking a couple of drops of CBD oil and a few puffs of your homegrown bud an hour after. You can then assess the way it has made you feel and adjust accordingly. There are basic guides to finding the right ratios for you. These will help you understand the ratios and try to apply them.

The laws in South Africa have changed drastically, but are still limiting in many ways. CBD will help many of us with our various conditions, but we could be helped even more if there were allowances for higher ratios of THC in the CBD we can legally purchase.

If you ain’t chokin’, you ain’t tokin’

– Stoner Steve