Science Sunday… …Part One: cannabis, terpenes, sedatives, anxiolytics and essential oils.

We hope you have a little time to get geeky today….

We believe a truly knowledgeable public will make the best decisions about whether cannabis medicines should be widely available – and that facts are the disinfectant that will help wash away decades of misconceptions, meaning educated activists (YOU!) are in the best position to refute the storm of disinformation that opponents will be tossing out next year (as they’re organizing to do even as you read this).

The best known, most important class of compounds in cannabis are the “cannabinoids” – where THC and CBD are the current – but not the only medically active – superstars.

Meanwhile, our first article today is mainly about another class of medically active compounds cannabis contains, the TERPENES, which also have other medical (and other) uses.

Terpenes are thought to work in concert with cannabinoids and together are the basis of the “entourage effect” we often post about – a medical phenomenon which the FDA in its blindered (if not corrupt) fashion refuses to even study as a source for “FDA-approved” medicines.

Unlike cannabinoids, many other plants also produce terpenes, and more people interact with terpenes than they realize. Terpenes are a main class of legal and popular “Essential Oils,” and give many plants and flowers their characteristic smells, for example.

Terpenes are not the only components of essential oils, though. See http://bit.ly/2zK1nK3 for an interesting discussion of the constituents and asserted functions of essential oils. Knowledge about about the health effects of many “ethno-botanical” substances, including cannabis, whose uses often go back many centuries and are now all beginning to cohere and be understood in the light of modern scientific techniques.

Terpenes are not yet very well investigated. As the author notes:

“…it was difficult to even find a proper review on sedative effects of terpenes in the scientific literature. So I made this guide on the sedative and anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) effects of terpenes to understand the science behind what they do and how they work.

Note that I am not including studies on the effects of terpenes tested as aromatherapy. There is some interesting research in this area, but I will cover this in a separate article. This article will focus on the effects of terpenes taken internally.”

Read and learn… …lots of chemistry here, but the more you know…..

#MMJ #Research #Terpenes #Cannabinoid #Sedatives #Anxiolytic #TRUCE

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See full article – Sedative and Anxiolytic Effects of Cannabis Terpenes