The pharmacological properties of cannabis
Istok Nahtigal, Alexia Blake, Andrew Hand, Angelique Florentinus-Mefailoski, Haleh Hashemi, and Jeremy Friedberg
Journal of Pain Management, 2016, 9, 4, 481-491
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316545895
Abstract :
The efforts to understand the nature of how the consumption of cannabis affects the human body are ongoing, complex, and multifaceted. Documentation on the use of cannabis dates back thousands of years; however, it is only now with the recent softening of legal restrictions that modern research approaches have been able to initiate an appropriate level of detailed investigations. For clinicians, researchers and policy makers, this chapter reviews the general structure of cannabinoids, the current understanding of cannabinoids on cellular systems, the difference between inhalation and oral consumption on cannabinoid bioavailability, the variance among purified cannabinoids versus whole plant extract, and the potential activities of another prominent family of secondary metabolites found in cannabis, the terpenes.
Keywords : Cannabis, cannabinoids, terpenes
Introduction :
The efforts to understand the nature of how the consumption of cannabis affects the human body is an ongoing and complex process. Although documentation of cannabis’ use dates back thousands of years, it was only the recent amelioration of legal restrictions that allowed modern research approaches to initiate an appropriate level of detailed investigations, as with other plant species. For clinicians, researchers and policy makers, this chapter reviews the general structure of cannabinoids, the current understanding of cannabinoids within cellular systems, the differences of inhalation and oral consumption on cannabinoid bioavailability, the therapeutic efficacy of purified cannabinoids versus whole plant extract, and the potential activities of another prominent family of secondary metabolites found in cannabis, the terpenes.