Cannabidiol (CBD) is gaining popularity nationwide. In many states, it is the only form of medical marijuana that is accepted. But some states refuse to embrace CBD, even though it’s non-psychoactive.
Cannabinoids offer an array of health benefits. They work together, meaning that the combination of THC, CBC, CBD, CBG, CBN, THC-a and THC-v provides more medicinal benefits, and experts wonder if CBD alone is enough to provide the entourage effect, according to Alternet.
The entourage effect occurs when multiple cannabinoids are present and working together.
Eloise Theisen, director of the American Cannabis Nurses Association, said, “CBD and THC seem to work better together. They lessen each other’s side effects.”
Mary Lynn Mathre, co-founder of Patients Out of Time, said, “CBD has value, but its value can be enhanced with the whole plant and we can develop more individualized medicine.”
Dr. Perry Soloman said, “THC seems to potentiate all the effects of CBD and conversely, CBD affects THC.”
Dr. Ethan Russo further supports this theory by demonstrating that non-cannabinoid plant components such as terpenes serve as inhibitors to THC’s intoxicating effects, thereby increasing THC’s therapeutic index. This ‘phytocannabinoid-terpenoid synergy,’ as Russo calls it, “increases the potential of cannabis-based medicinal extracts to treat pain, inflammation, fungal and bacterial infections, depression, anxiety, addiction, epilepsy, and even cancer. Terpenes act on receptors and neurotransmitters; they are prone to combine with or dissolve in lipids or fats; they act as serotonin uptake inhibitors (similar to antidepressants like Prozac); they enhance norepinephrine activity (similar to tricyclic antidepressants like Elavil); they increase dopamine activity; and they augment GABA (the ‘downer’ neurotransmitter that counters glutamate, the ‘upper’).”
All three experts agree that the entourage effect makes it more beneficial and preferred means of whole plant medicine.