The past few years have been instrumental for cannabis. It has seen a slew of positive legislative changes and more states are willing to look at it objectively, especially in regard to its potential medical benefits. Although the science to back this up is scarce, we now know without a doubt that cannabis produces chemicals called cannabinoids, and they are responsible for its therapeutic abilities.
The two most common ones are THC and CBD. THC is the main active component in marijuana and it is responsible for cannabis’s infamous ‘high.’ CBD, on the other hand, carries most of marijuana’s medical potential and has a wide variety of medical applications. However, cannabinoids aren’t limited to just these two.
Cannabis produces over 100 of them and aside from THC and CBD, there are numerous others including THC-a, CBD-a, CBC, and CBG. Cannabinoids like THC-a, or tetrahydrocannabolic acid, especially, hold their own against CBD in some aspects.
CBD is a powerful anti-inflammatory, but THC-a may be even more potent. It is the inactive form of THC, and it gets converted into the psychoactive chemical when it is heated or burnt. The process also occurs naturally as the plant dries.
Like CBD, there isn’t enough science to definitively say that THC-a is 100% effective against certain conditions. However, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence, and preliminary research has been encouraging.
It is a potent anti-oxidant, and it could hypothetically be used as a neuroprotectant in neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, ALS, and similar conditions. Although there haven’t been any human trials yet, the science behind the theory is sound.
THC-a is also a powerful anti-inflammatory, and it has been found to be 10-20 times more potent than CBD. And while cannabidiol can kill affected cells in high doses, THC-a does not.
One risk with cannabidiol is potentially harmful drug interactions. CBD is broken down in the liver by an enzyme that breaks down many common medications and it can interact with these drugs in potentially dangerous ways. THC-a, on the other hand, is broken down by a relatively lonely enzyme and has limited chances of interacting with any other drugs in your system.
THC-a is also more abundant than CBD. Cannabidiol may be insanely popular, but it makes a small percentage of the total cannabinoids produced by cannabis. Since THC-a is the inactive form of THC, there are larger reserves of it. As long it is extracted before it converts into THC, using a cold extraction method like chilled ethanol, you’ll have a lot more THC-a than CBD.
Although THC-a still isn’t as accessible as cannabidiol yet, this may change with time as more research is done. At the moment, experts recommended a 10-40mg dose over the day, for a couple of weeks for the best results.
It is widely expected that sector players like SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) may be doing a lot of work behind the scenes to bring THC-a products to consumers in the near future.
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