We’re seeing it in trendy restaurants, gas station candy sections, pharmacies and the internet but most people haven’t really gotten a grasp on what the eff it is.
All plants, including the cannabis plant and the hemp plant are made up of hundreds of different elements that make up its unique biology. One of those elements or molecules is called chlorophyll, another is water, another is thc, another is cbd, and there are hundreds more. The cool thing about cannabis and hemp is that depending on the strain, the chemical makeup of each one will have a different amount of different molecular properties. Each plant has its own, sorta, recipe that makes it up. THC and CBD are just one the many that play a big role on what you feel when ingesting these plants but scientists are learning more and more about the other components too – like terpenes, which also affect how we feel but play a big role in taste and smell too, among many many more.
For the purpose of this article lets talk just about cbd. This element, ingredient or “cannabinoid” has been discovered to have some major effects on our bodies upon ingestion. It doesn’t get us high like its sister thc but it does take credit for some of the other great feelings we typically associate with marijuana like pain relief, mental calmness and more.
But there are a lot of variables that make ingesting cbd, affect us in different ways.
One is HOW it’s ingested – vape, joint, dabs, gummies, foods, straight oil, topicals, etc. Depending on how you ingest will determine the strength and the effectiveness. We prefer smoking or vaping to relieve anxiety and topicals to relieve pain. From our research, we’ve found that edibles tend to break down a lot of the cbd in our stomachs and so it reduces the strength by a lot.
Another important factor is whether you are ingesting the CBD alone – which is an isolate – meaning that at the lab, all the other ingredients that make up that original plant are taken out and only the cbd remains. Or if you are ingesting FULL SPECTRUM CBD which means you’re taking cbd but also in the mix is a lot of those other ingredients that make up the plant like a tiny bit of thc, terpenes and more. Most scientists believe that in order for CBD to really work its magic, it needs the help of those other cannabinoids that it was born with. CBD alone can do some good, especially if taken at higher doses, but full spectrum is more like the full avengers team, where isolate is like a lonely captain america.
