A new study released earlier this month on May 2 in the research journal Pain suggests that an injection of cannabis terpenes is “roughly equal” to the number of pain reduction markers from an injection of morphine.

“Terpenes from Cannabis sativa induce antinociception in a mouse model of chronic neuropathic pain via activation of adenosine A2A receptors” features researchers hailing from multiple departments at the University of Arizona as well as with awarded funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers sought out to see how cannabis can potentially treat chronic pain. “A question that we’ve been very interested in is could terpenes be used to manage chronic pain?” said John Streicher, PhD, who is the lead author of the study. “What we found is that terpenes are really good at relieving a specific type of chronic pain with side effects that are low and manageable.”

While both CBD and THC have been found to be beneficial in treating chronic pain, researchers explained that the effects are moderate, and “can come with unwanted psychoactive side effects.” Terpenes are a path around the use of psychoactive substances, which “offer an alternative path to pain relief without adverse side effects.”

For the purpose of this study, researchers examined five different terpenes: alpha-humulene, beta-caryophyllene, beta-pinene, geraniol, and linalool. Researchers utilized a mouse model focused on neuropathic pain, which is a well-known condition that stems from nerve damage caused by chemotherapy medications.

Each terpene was tested on its own and the results were compared with morphine as well. All five terpenes showed significant pain reduction “near to or above the peak effect of morphine” individually, and even more powerful effects on pain when combined. “That was really striking to us, but just because something relieves pain doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a good therapy,” Streicher said.

The negative effects of using opioids include an activation of the reward system in the brain, which can lead to an increased tolerance to the effects over time, and addiction as well. But terpenes don’t lead to these same effects. “We looked at other aspects of the terpenes, such as does this cause reward? Is this going to be addictive? Is it going to make you feel awful?” said Streicher. “What we found was yes, terpenes do relieve pain, and they also have a pretty good side effect profile.”

Researchers also examined the method of consumption with terpenes, including injection, oral dosing, and inhalation. When orally administered or inhaled, the effects were “significantly reduced or absent.” “A lot of people vape or smoke terpenes as part of cannabis extracts that are available commercially in states where cannabis use is legal,” said Streicher. “We were surprised to find that the inhalation route didn’t have an impact in this study, because there are a lot of at least anecdotal reports saying that you can get the effects of terpenes whether taken orally or inhaled. Part of the confounding factor is that terpenes smell quite nice and it’s hard to disguise that aroma, so people could be kind of having the psychosomatic placebo-style effect.”

Previously, Streicher and his team published their findings from a similar study back in July 2021. At the time, their results showed promising evidence regarding terpenes being used for pain relief, especially when studying the benefits of the entourage effect. Although their hypothesis was to examine how cannabinoids affected pain, they were ultimately surprised by how powerful the entourage effect actually was. “It was unexpected, in a way,” Streicher said in 2021. “It was our initial hypothesis, but we didn’t necessarily expect terpenes, these simple compounds that are found in multiple plants, to produce cannabinoid-like effects.”

Looking toward the future, Streicher plans to utilize these results in his next research endeavor. In a press release, he explained that his next hypothesis will explore if terpenes can block the body’s reward system and also still provide the same pain treatment as seen in the most recent results. “This brings up the idea that you could have a combination therapy, an opioid with a high level of terpene, that could actually make the pain relief better while blocking the addiction potential of opioids. That’s what we are looking at now,” said Streicher.

Over time, other terpene studies have revealed how they can serve as a treatment option for certain conditions. 

A study from 2020 published in Molecules defined terpenes in detail to “describe sources of cannabis terpenes and to explain the biosynthesis and diversity of terpene profiles in different cannabis chemovars.” Their results showed that terpenes and cannabinoids used together show evidence of the entourage effect.

In February 2023, one study from researchers at the University of New Mexico found that patient relief was best experienced with higher terpene levels.

In October 2023, a study performed by researchers at Abstrax Tech and published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Omega, showed that the importance of terpenes is “overstated” when it comes to defining the differences between cultivars. “This discrepancy suggests that while these classifications may be helpful for chemotaxonomic purposes, they lack the chemical information necessary to differentiate these varieties from an aroma perspective,” the study stated.

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When Abstrax started its recent research project, I doubt anyone could have imagined it would discover a whole new universe beneath our still-evolving knowledge of cannabis compounds. Now, they’ve released research suggesting how we understand how weed tastes or smells might just be the tip of the iceberg. Working with 710 Labs, SepSolve Analytical, and Markes International, the research team opened a portal into a world of rare and unseen flavor and aroma compounds in cannabis.

Founded in California in 2017, the Abstrax team calls themselves pioneers in botanical flavor technology. Its main business is to provide terpene-driven flavor solutions for industries such as cannabis, beverage, and fragrance. By studying the complete chemical makeup of a cultivar, Abstrax goes through a rigorous process to map out, select, analyze, refine, formulate, optimize, test, reformulate, test, and package before offering companies the truest strain-specific flavors they can produce. It does so through its three divisions: tech, which researches and creates terpene blends for various markets; labs, which conducts botanical testing and offers extraction/analytical technologies; and hops, providing research, products, and services to the brewing sector.

Using two-dimensional gas chromatography, a sophisticated separation technique that offers higher resolution than traditional chemical analysis, Abstrax was able to detect pockets of “hidden compounds,” which they believe have a significant impact on odor and can shape the course of how we classify or even shop for weed.

Abstrax researchers published the results of their findings in a white paper posted on their website and in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Omega. The research points out that one of the main driving factors regarding how consumers choose cannabis has to do with THC percentages. The battle over whether something is better because it’s stronger has caused more than a few amazing strains to become lost to time. However, another key factor in what someone purchases is and has always been how something smells. Despite restrictions across many states on cracking open a jar and letting someone take a whiff, this obsession with smell has led to terpenes, or terps, becoming the second most important factor that the study identifies when consumers decide which cannabis to buy. Now, packaging lists the most dominant terpenes on the label and uses them as a guide to tell consumers what they can expect.

Abstrax and the research team see this as a partial response to the modern pushback to the classic indica, sativa, and hybrid classification system we’ve leaned on up to this point. As the cannabis industry develops more modern ways of labeling and portraying the different varieties of cannabis, it’s looking for new terms to replace indica and sativa, and smell has emerged as a dowsing rod as competitions divide strains between candy, citrus, and gas. Much of the marketing focus on educating base-level consumers past sativa and indica has shifted toward trying to describe to shoppers what these aromatic compounds mean concerning the taste, smell, and psychoactive effects of a strain. It makes sense since, as the research points out, they appear in high amounts, making them a seemingly perfect identifier for classification.

Contrastingly, the research asserts that we might be trading one generalization for another in our use of terpenes, pointing to an additional study—“The phytochemical diversity of commercial cannabis in the United States,” published in PLOS One in May 2022—which concluded that in the United States, all cannabis falls into one of three terpene-dominant categories: terpinolene/ß-myrcene, D-(+)-limonene/ß-caryophyllene, or ß-myrcene/pinene.

The authors point out that through this system, strains with very different smells ended up in the same groups together. With its skunky, woody aroma, Dogwalker OG wound up next to Tropicana Cookies and Purple Punch, two cultivars with very contrasting smells. Meaning that you can’t always assume something will smell a certain way due to high percentages of certain terpenes.

“Taken together, these results strongly suggest that while aroma is a key property in differentiating cannabis varieties and user preferences, the importance of terpenes appears to be overstated,” researchers wrote.

The team concluded that terpenes had less of a correlation with the sought-after attributes of a lot of “exotic” cannabis strains and that it must be these alternate classes of compounds at work.

The study identified a wide variety of aroma classes, each with diverse functionality, that are responsible for some of the most desirable aromatic qualities found in modern cannabis. Two such classes include tropical volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), which are responsible for the citrus notes in Tropicana Cookies or Tangie, and heterocyclic compounds like indole and skatole, which produce the rich, intense scent in strains like GMO. They also identified a class of chemicals called flavorants that includes alcohols, ketones, and esters, that go beyond terpenes in affecting the smells and tastes of cannabis. Though found in small amounts, they believe these compounds play a major role by combining to create many of the diverse tastes in modern “exotic” strains like Apple Fritter or Zkittlez.

“The discovery of these compounds will play a crucial role in validating cannabis’s authenticity and accurately classifying cannabis varieties in the future,” says Max Koby, CEO and co-founder of Abstrax.

Koby also said that utilizing these previously undiscovered cannabis compounds would allow Abstrax to create “the most flavorful and authentic cannabis flavors,” which will elevate the level of the terpene blends and isolate it sells, but also benefit everyone in the space. Consumers can finally have a better toolkit to identify what flavors and feelings they enjoy most. Cultivators, breeders, and brands could someday use this knowledge to better understand which plant components drive these sweet fruit flavors versus the savory ones.

“This research helps us better understand flavor in the cannabis experience, allowing us to better educate our customers and select phenos for our genetic library,” says research co-author Brad Melshenker, co-CEO of 710 Labs.

One of the more exciting benefits that Abstrax identified for this research was its ability to provide a jumping-off point for researchers and packagers to discover the best way of preserving these specific compounds and provide cannabis with a better shelf life.

With additional research planned, Abstrax has announced a partnership to create educational content that helps tell the story of the revelations brought about by its discoveries. Somebody reach out to Paul Rudd. Just like Antman explored and expanded upon the understanding of the microscopic quantum realm the technology employed here shows us there’s so much more happening inside the plant than we’ve ever imagined.

Abstrax believes “we stand at the dawn of a new era in cannabis understanding” and that the microcosm of additional compounds inside these plants is part of a secret roadmap researchers are just now learning to draw. This new research will allow us to look for and provide solutions to many of the problems that have arisen from the swift evolution of cannabis from evil weed to essential service. Maybe someday, in a galaxy far, far, away, an android will extend a glass jar to smell the nugs instead of watching an image spin on a budtender’s holopad.

This article was originally published in the February 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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THC test subjects with limonene aboard reported a smoother flight.

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The clanking of dishes. The terpene-drenched aroma of herbs and savory cuisine. The sweet, dank waft of smoke billowing throughout the air. The laughter. Cultivating Spirits, a three-course cannabis dinner pairing, is about the overall combined experience.

Celebrating its 10th year in operation, Cultivating Spirits provides three-course dinners complete with carefully matched cannabis pairings—the first of its kind to offer such services to the general public in the U.S. The journey began many years ago, and founder Philip Wolf now wears multiple hats as an active mover and shaker in the cannabis industry. He also co-founded the Cannabis Wedding Expo, and launched the recent venture CashoM, a cannabis masterclass program designed for consumers.

Cultivating Spirits events bring together three different strains with three different courses of gourmet dishes that are specifically selected to work in harmony together. Since the process involves smoking rather than infusing the food, guests can choose whether or not they want to participate in the cannabis portion. The team helps diners navigate through the flavorful notes of both the flower and the food, and more importantly, how they will enhance each other. Past dinners include items like chef Joseph L. Paire III’s spot prawn bisque with green garlic chili oil, paired with Cherry AK, and a crème brulée dessert by chef Tye Idleman, paired with Bazookies.

Since launching Cultivating Spirits, Wolf and his team have curated experiential dining events and provided educated guidance for over 4,000 people. The concept was born from recognizing a glaring need for a better experience that incorporates both fine cuisine and cannabis. Ten years ago, and still to this day, there is no blueprint for running a cannabis pairing event.

“Essentially, I started wanting to create wine-style experiences,” says Wolf. “This was in December of 2013 and it was really deep-seated in my mind.”

Wolf founded a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado Springs—Colorado Cannabis Caregivers—in 2009 during Colorado’s medical era. Once Colorado voters approved adult-use in November 2012, that’s really when things began to change. Wolf noticed a rising interest in consumers enjoying edibles as the marketplace began to open up.

When designing Cultivating Spirits, instead of infusing dishes with cannabis, Wolf decided to pair cannabis smoking courses like wine.

“This was a period when we [began hosting events involving] smoking and that allowed for the legalities to be easier to operate with more, from a regulatory standpoint, doing it that way as opposed to doing infusions,” Wolf says, speaking of the early days of Cultivating Spirits and noting that if he was infusing foods with cannabis, it would be regulated entirely differently. “Ultimately, at that point, we’re selling cannabis, and we can’t sell cannabis. And there’s also a lot more, there’s obviously more variables [when businesses operate] in that way.”

Cultivating Spirits, depending on the state, partners with nearby cannabis retailers like Colorado-based High Country Healing—the flagship store they work with today. When they host dinner pairings in California, it’s entirely different and the businesses are not typically vertically integrated. In California, they’re hosting events for brands, so Wolf works with smaller farms as much as possible there. In 2018, Cultivating Spirits moved into Las Vegas.

Upgrading Experiences with Terpenes

Wolf wanted to create a new way to fine-tune his dining experiences by way of choosing terpenes to have specific effects and interact with the flavors.

“That’s what I realized was missing,” he says. “At that point, I created the cannabis pairing protocol. And what that is, is [pairing] terpene profiles of cannabis with flavor profiles [of food] to harmonize the flavors. So opposed to a wine where you want to cut that flavor in their mouth, what we were really doing was enhancing and harmonizing flavors.”

Then Wolf discovered that terpenes actually steer the type of mood that cannabis consumers are going to experience, and that’s what creates the feeling. Myrcene is believed to have sedative properties. Limonene is believed energize the mind like espresso.

“Once I realized that, I started studying,” he says. “And that is when I fully dedicated myself to cannabis at that point, because I realized that on the platform of fine dining, that I could teach people how they can identify what type of high they’re going to have, before they even consume.”

He says he wanted people, “to consume something that’s going to enhance their experience and not take away from it while enjoying the culinary arts. Indulging while also being able to not only break bread, with their friends and family at the dinner table, but also through the sharing of smoking.”

One of the perks of pairings versus infusions is the faster onset (depending on how cannabis is infused).

“To me, it was the most brilliant way to present this plant because it gave people a tool that they can use to consciously consume cannabis, as well as it really made for a night of unification and pleasure,” Wolf says. “And so that’s when we really started taking off with these dinners, and once we fully committed to that. And so since then, we’ve done over four hundred events.”

Wolf explained that most of the Cultivating Spirits dinners seat between eight to 14 people. People usually book private events for celebratory experiences like a bachelor-bachelorette party, graduation, wedding, or birthday party. The company also hosts ticketed events held at different locations such as the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California. 

On January 21, 2015, Wolf organized an invite-only private cannabis dinner on the opening night of X Games Aspen. The event was city approved and became one of the first cannabis consumption events ever authorized by a municipality.

“That night we did a 56-person dinner with five courses,” Wolf says.

Since then, the concept has expanded and been refined. Now Wolf seeks to move away from the limitations of comparing cannabis pairings with wine events. This is why he has mostly retired the word “sommelier” from his vocabulary in recent years. Cannabis can be so much more than just wine culture, he says.

Educating Dinner Guests

Wolf explains that in general, his patrons are not quite so worried about getting busted by police, as he operates in mature markets in California, Colorado, and Nevada. Instead, they’re more worried about getting too high. Or even worse, being judged for deciding to get high.

“We get a lot of discerning questions from people making sure that they weren’t going to get themselves in trouble. But a lot of them are not worried about getting themselves in legal trouble. It was more like people worried about their photos. And honestly, it was about societal judgments against them from friends, family, neighbors or their job. I felt like that was more of a fear [of getting judged].”

But guess what? Another perk of doing pairings versus infusions is the fact that diners can bring along a friend that doesn’t smoke as the food is separated from the cannabis.

“I would say typically, on average, about 10% of the people on our dinners don’t consume,” Wolf says.

Wolf explains that at the beginning of each dinner, he tells diners that they don’t need to keep smoking after they’re already high.

“It’s important for me, as the steward and server of this plant, to make people understand that this isn’t about mass consumption,” he says. “This is actually about tuning into your body, mind, and soul, and consuming something that’s in alignment with those three areas of yourself, for you to enjoy the best experience around.”

One of his favorite chefs to work with is Jessica Catalano.

“She’s incredible,” he says. “She totally believes in what we have done. And she’s the one who really first opened me up to terpenes over a decade ago, and ultimately has allowed me to land where I’m at today.”

Catalano used to teach the Cooking with Cannabis class and the Sensational Private Dinners class at Cultivating Spirits. He’s also worked with Chris Sayegh, aka The Herbal Chef, and celebrity chefs who wanted to experiment with cannabis infusions such as Hosea Rosenberg, Bravo TV’s Top Chef Season 5 winner in 2009.

Throughout all of the dinners, the concept is a focused intention.

“It’s really communion with yourself. What is the why to consuming? What is the purpose? That’s something that I really try to teach people, let’s be intentional,” Wolf says. “Why are we consuming right now? And to me that’s gonna allow for the best experience possible when you are consuming cannabis.”

This article was originally published in the May 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

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Inside the chemical compound factories present within the trichomes of cannabis flowers, many elements contribute to the overall effects we feel when we smoke weed. One of those lesser-known elements is anthocyanins, a blue, red, or purple pigment found in many plants. 

Anthocyanins are within a class of cannabis compounds called flavonoids, which join in with terpenes to give cannabis its flavors and aromas. These particular types of flavonoids, anthocyanins, give plants purple or indigo color tones. Early research shows anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants and may benefit our health in several other ways, including enhancing night vision, reducing the proliferation of cancer cells, controlling body weight, and strengthening memory. While “eat the rainbow” is an expression designed to encourage incorporating more colorful fruits and vegetables into our diets, we advise you also to smoke the rainbow, starting with these vivid cannabis flowers. 

Blue Lobster

Bred by Cipher Genetics 

Selected by Maine Trees

Grown by Umma Sonoma 

Incredibly layered when it comes to its aroma—a floral dryer sheet that turns to a woodsy, slightly gassy aroma when ground—the only critical thing to say about Blue Lobster is that it’s not the best weed to smoke in the morning as it delivers an intensely potent stone. Blue Lobster is a cross of Apples and Bananas with Eye Candy, both from Compound Genetics. The new cultivar comes from the cannabis breeder behind Cipher Genetics, Chris Lynch, who described it as “Pixy Stix with candy gas.” 

Not yet available on the broader cannabis flower market as Cipher plans to drop seeds in a summer 2024 release, the Blue Lobster came to be through a collaboration between Lynch (who was formerly associated with Compound before starting his own brand) and Maine-based cultivator Maine Trees, which selected the award-winning phenotype to produce clone cuts. The collaboration with Maine Trees also explains the “lobster” part of this weed’s name, as Maine is famous for lobster. 

Blue Lobster gained notoriety by winning coast-to-coast flower accolades for grower Maine Trees, first at the 2023 East Coast Zalympix in New York City and then at the 2023 Ego Clash in Northern California. While it does take on a bluish tint in photos, my sample nugs, grown by Umma Sonoma, are light green and purple colored buds frosted over with trichomes. 

Blue Lobster’s aroma resembles the soft tar-like scent of railroad tracks in a forested coastal wilderness. This weed has a woody spice salted with fresh air from the sea and tastes like sweet cedar. 

“I follow my taste pattern, which seems to differentiate myself in that way, following what I think is the best flavors and looking for unique outliers, things that stand out from the rest,” Lynch said when asked how he differentiates his cannabis breeding work from others.

Lynch’s partner in business and love, Kate, explained that Cipher created Blue Lobster with “feminized seeds by reversing Blue Lobster and pollinating the best recipients.” She said it grows more conical under LEDs than HPS lights and described the terpene profile as “blueberry candy.” 

“Blue Lobster was super stacked with X-chromosome-only genetically female pollen when we reversed her; she’s one strong, healthy donor,” Kate said. “We will release these seeds in late summer after we’re done testing and phenotyping each cross.”

Canna Country #26

Bred and Grown by Canna Country Farm

The dark purple color of this cannabis is its most striking feature, but its uplifting tropical nose and smooth smoke also set this weed in a special class. Bred by Canna Country Farm, #26 is a cross of Forbidden Fruit with Cherimoya, and it’s packed with a rare terpene, ocimene. Ocimine is found in plants and fruits that have woodsy, sweet undertones, such as guavas and papayas.

Canna Country #26 smells very fruity, like mangoes before they’re peeled or a loquat turned orange in its ripeness and picked from the tallest branches in a neighborhood tree. Its taste is more earthy and woody, like sweet tobacco. 

“#26 grows like a jungle queen; she grows up to fall down and grow up again,” Canna Country’s Ted Blair said. “#26 was the tallest plant in the pheno hunt, reaching 12 feet tall and about 11 feet wide.”

Based in Humboldt County, Canna Country Farm created the #26 in 2017, and it won second place in the sungrown flower category at the 2021 Emerald Cup. Blair said its smell reminded him of a Burmese plant he grew guerilla-style as a young man. 

“As the plant was growing, she was green on green. Not until she started to flower did she reveal her true colors out of nowhere,” Blair said. Purple pistols and white hairs popping out of this green plant—it was unexpected.”

At Solful—a group of San Francisco Bay Area-based cannabis retail shops—the #26 is labeled “#26 Reserve” and includes an alternative name in round brackets like a song title, Ocimene Queen.

“It’s from their best native soil bed,” Solful co-founder and CEO Eli Melrod said of the #26 available at his shops. “They have a few different areas on their farm where they grow it, and so Reggie [Weedman] and Ted, the farmers, they found the plants of the #26 in that particular bed, and they only picked the top colas to go in that batch… it’s basically like the head stash batch.”

The journey with this weed starts with the unique color of the flowers—the dark purple, almost black of an eggplant or olive—but #26 follows through with a tasty, relaxing smoke that calls for a summer spent chasing sunshine.  

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Researchers from Romania published the results of a study in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences exploring and analyzing the effects of various phytocannabinoids and terpenes working together.

Phytocannabinoids include any naturally occurring cannabinoid found in the plant, from the more commonly known THC, and CBD to less known CBC, CBG, CBN, and more. Researchers wrote that over 100 cannabinoids have been identified in the plant. “The complex interaction between phytocannabinoids and biological systems offers hope for novel treatment approaches and lays the groundwork for further developments in the field of cannabinoid-based medicine,” the study abstract explained. “This review summarizes the state of the field, points out information gaps, and emphasizes the need for more studies to fully realize the therapeutic potential of phytocannabinoids.”

Researchers explored the entourage effect, which is the combination of both cannabinoids and terpenes working together to create effects that “exceed the sum of their separate contributions.” While consuming a product with a single cannabinoid has its benefits, consuming more than one cannabinoid or terpene together can produce even stronger, more beneficial effects. “This synergy emphasizes how important it is to consider the entire plant when utilizing cannabis medicinally as opposed to just concentrating on individual cannabinoids,” researchers explained.

Researchers also briefly wrote about terpenes, which make up the aroma and flavor of various cannabis strains. “Standardizing the terpene profile helps maintain consistency in sensory attributes and may also impact the ‘entourage’ effect—the synergistic interaction between cannabinoids and terpenes.”

The study primarily reviewed the known effects and properties of various cannabinoids, many of which offer varying levels of benefit for anti-inflammatory effects, antioxidant effects, pain management, neurological disorders, psychiatric conditions, cancer treatment support, and more. “The exploration of novel phytocannabinoids is rapidly evolving, offering exciting prospects for future therapeutic applications,” researchers wrote. “Beyond well-established compounds like THC and CBD, the quest for novel cannabinoids widens the scope of potential treatments. Each cannabinoid, with its unique chemical structure, interacts differently with the ECS, suggesting tailored therapeutic effects for specific conditions. This exploration seeks to harness similar benefits while circumventing associated drawbacks.”

The study cited examples of THC having analgesic effects and has been found to help patients treat chronic pain, while CBD has been studied for its anti-inflammatory properties and is an anxiolytic, which has potential to reduce anxiety and stress.

CBG interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system (specifically the CB1 and CB2 receptors) in a way that suggests it can “modulate the effects of other cannabinoids by influencing CB1 receptor activity.” It has also been studied for its anticancer properties. Similar breakdowns were provided for CBC, CBN, and THCV as well.

This research is the combined presentation from 99 sources to exhibit the benefits of cannabinoids, but spotlights the complex challenges regarding the legal status of cannabis in the U.S. and the EU. However, researchers noted that these laws and regulations are subject to change as more evidence is presented.

Researchers also added that at least in the U.S., more evidence will lead to an expansion in FDA approved products. Currently, only two products—Sativex^® (which contains both CBD and THC) and Epidiolex^® (which contains only CBD)—have been approved so far. Sativex^® was approved in 2010, while Epidiolex^® was approved in 2018. “CBD and THC should be accessible to patients with special prescriptions due to their potential benefits, especially for individuals with epilepsy refractory to other medications.”

Not all countries in Europe have access to Sativex^® and/or Epidiolex^®, which has led to an increase in a reliance on obtaining cannabis products online, and also increases the risk of illegal products that are not being tested for impurities and other harmful contaminants. Due to this, researchers recommended that cannabis products should be made available as a prescription to “lower addiction risk.” “Prescription retention in pharmacies after each refill or release can aid in monitoring usage,” researchers wrote. “Additionally, THC products should adhere to state-specific rules, potentially requiring a special prescription to curb misuse.”

In their conclusion, researchers summarized the many beneficial properties of phytocannabinoids and the need for more research. “By leveraging the synergistic effects of combination therapies and targeting multiple disease pathways, phytocannabinoids hold immense potential to revolutionize the future of pharmacotherapy and improve human health outcomes,” researchers said. “However, further research, regulatory clarity, and standardized protocols are needed to fully unlock their therapeutic benefits and ensure safe and effective use in clinical practice.”

Other researchers have presented similar evidence as well, such as one study published in October 2023. A study conducted by Zentrela and PAX showed evidence of the entourage effect (in this case, the application of multiple cannabinoids and terpenes) led to two times the psychoactive effects in comparison to participants who consumed just products with high levels of delta-9 THC.

Similar evidence has been found on mushrooms as well. A study published in February in the journal Molecular Psychiatry explained how full-spectrum psilocybin extract offers superior benefits compared to synthetic psilocybin. “This research not only underscores the superiority of extracts with diverse compounds but also highlights the feasibility of incorporating them into Western medicine due to the controlled nature of mushroom cultivation,” researchers wrote in a press release.

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Brace yourselves for Chili Verde, Ogre Breath, and Dragon’s Fist.

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The kids are alright. Weed isn’t making people crazy. Terpenes aren’t all that. And more.

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Here’s why 2023 became the year we saw beyond both THC and terpenes.

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Plant symbiosis with microbes makes terpier weed.

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