What is Cannabis?
One of the subjects that have been given a lot of attention lately is the legalization of marijuana also called cannabis, or as you might know it better as – weed. Although it has already been legalized in few places over the world, still this subject is seen as controversial. Maybe you are waging on one side or the other in this debate, but have you ever stopped and thought about how much you actually know about cannabis itself? And what is cannabis anyway?
One of the most common misconceptions is that cannabis is a plant that has psychoactive properties. And you are not wrong entirely, it does have psychoactive properties but cannabis is a group of plants – not one plant! To be more specific, there are three strains in the group of cannabis plants – Cannabis Indica, Cannabis sativa, and Cannabis ruderalis.
So, we mentioned that one of the characteristics of cannabis is that it has psychoactive properties, however, besides those, there are also about 120 other components in the plant known as cannabinoids. While there aren’t enough studies to find out what each component does, there are a lot of studies done on two – THC and CBD.
We bet you’ve heard all about THC because it is considered as the main component that gives the “high” when using cannabis. And what’s so bad in relaxing a bit here and there right? But, the component that is also important is CBD, and you probably don’t hear a lot about it because it doesn’t get you “high”, and it’s not a psychoactive component. Rather than get you “high” CBD offers pain relief, reduces seizures, anxiety, and inflammation. Pretty useful, right?
Either way, there are many ways to use cannabis and many reasons to do so, besides the psychoactive properties. Known effects of using cannabis are:
- Giddiness
- Relaxation
- Increased appetite
- Slower reflexes
- Lowering blood pressure
- Pain Relief
- Feeling of well-being
- Increased heart rate
So, as you can see, besides the "high" and giddiness, there are also a lot of helpful health benefits from using cannabis. We are not saying that you have to support legalization or even use cannabis but rather to have all the facts before you make a decision or you judge someone.
Our point is, we bet you learned a lot of things today about cannabis that you didn't know before, and if you don't know all the facts - how can you have an opinion on a subject?
