The entourage effect: CBD, CBN, CBG ...

The entourage effect

If you look closely at your CBD flowers, you'll see that they're covered in trichomes, sticky, shiny dots of resin - cannabinoid interaction.

It is mainly in this resin that hundreds of therapeutic compounds are found, contributing to the effects and benefits of hemp.
You're probably already familiar with the hemp plant's two most famous cannabinoids, THC and CBD, but there are many others which the plant produces in lesser abundance and which play an essential role in the overall effects induced by the consumption of hemp flowers.

What is the entourage effect?

This refers to the fact that two or more chemical compounds can act synergistically when consumed together, inducing effects that would not have been observed had they been consumed alone.

When hemp is consumed, our body absorbs hundreds of botanical compounds. Each induces its own specific effects, and the combination of these results in an overall effect: this is known as the entourage effect.

To illustrate the entourage effect, let's take the two best-known cannabinoids, THC and CBD, as an example. In a 2010 study, patients suffering from cancer pain were given either a pure THC extract or a hemp extract containing all the cannabinoids. As it turned out, patients who received the cannabinoid combo reported less pain than those who received only pure THC.

Hemp is by no means limited to THC and CBD. It also produces about a hundred other cannabinoids, such as CBN, CBC, and CBG, as well as terpenes, which are aromatic compounds found, for example, in essential oils of lavender, orange, black pepper, eucalyptus, and so on. It is helpful to know the difference between CBN and CBD to better understand the role of CBN and its specific effects.

Dr. Ethan Russo, a neurologist and pharmacologist, discovered that the cannabinoids CBD and CBG inhibit bacterial infection by MRSA and that they are even more effective when combined with the terpene pinene, which combats MRSA, or when combined with other terpenes that increase skin permeability.

However, caution and nuance are warranted, as few studies have been conducted to date on the synergies between various cannabinoids, which are far from having revealed all their secrets.