If you’ve been exploring the entourage effect of cannabis and you want to know more about this term, you’re in the right place by reading this article.
In order to easily understand the entourage effect, we would put it simply like this; in order to bake a cake, you must combine several ingredients in the right ratios. Doing so produces synergy and causes all the compounds to work together to effectively allow the cake to bake ‘right’ and rise. The entourage effect would be such an effect, but inside your body with respect to cannabis use.
Entourage Effect Synergy
Modern science has an extremely reductive way of classifying species and compounds as singularities, rather than as interconnected. However, that’s not exactly how life evolved on planet Earth. Over millennia, life has evolved through interconnection, no different to how our societies and social connectedness as humans has come about. We interact with others, and both them and us are forever changed from that exchange. The entourage effect proves this on a cellular level with the use of cannabinoids and terpenes.
The same can be said with plants, and most other species on this planet. As humans we’ve interacted with plants through extensive cultivation and consumption. We’ve evolved with them as they have with us, changing their chemical composition (biology) and ours. Over time this has led to changes in both the cannabis plant and in our own evolution (and we haven’t even begun to dive deeper into the other plants that we’ve cultivated, consumed and benefitted from yet).
Human beings and cannabis have been locked in a mutually beneficial exchange for a very long time. The hemp variety of cannabis has been cultivated as a crop by humans for thousands of years, rich in cannabidiol (CBD) and many other beneficial plant compounds, it is thought to have been one of the first crops to ever be cultivated by man.
Entourage Effect Benefits
Cannabinoids and terpenes are not the only beneficial compounds that lead to the entourage effect, but also plant phytosterols, flavanols, bioflavonoids, fatty acids and more. When consuming cannabinoids on their own, a user can experience some very beneficial effects, but when adding terpenes, the effectiveness of those cannabinoids doubles, due to increased synergy and bioavailability. These plants are not designed to be consumed as a singularity, but as a collective blend of mother nature's finest medicine delivered into your body in a way the best body recognizes.
Hemp has been found as a common fiber in rope production dating back some ten thousand years ago in both ancient China and Indonesia. It was noted as a medicine for Emperor Shen Neng in China as far back as 2737 BCE, where the official would recommend the plant be made into a tea to treat arthritis, gout, malaria, pain and memory disorders.
The popularity of hemp grew rapidly across India, Asia (where texts in Ayurvedic discussed the plant’s many medicinal properties), to the Middle East, and Africa. Hemp was discovered to have been used by Ancient Egyptians for tumor growth and Ancient Greek and Roman medical practitioners prescribed its use often. Cannabis has been found as a major part in many ceremonial, medicinal, therapeutic and recreational uses in Africa, Arabia, Asia, Central America and South America. It’s obvious humans have understood the power of the entourage effect when utilizing the cannabis plant, even without modern scientific understanding.
Hemp has been a major part of our economic, community and individual health as civilisation has grown over the years with early european ships sails and rope being made from hemp, along with colonists using it for clothing and even the draft of the American Constitution was written on hemp paper. What most people don’t realize, is that hemp has over 50,000 different modern uses and is a suitable replacement for apparel, plastic, fuel, cosmetics, building textiles and much more.
For the same reasons that hemp is such a versatile crop with so many uses, it was banned in 1930 as it was in direct competition to tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical, cotton, paper, fabric and the petroleum industries. The ban came through as a result of lobbying by these major corporations with their political influence. Shortly after, many other countries around the world began following suit, banning hemp while tobacco, big pharma, alcohol and big industry took over.
What is the Entourage Effect
Over the past one hundred years, the smear campaigns by big industry have started to wear off. As modern science began investigating the plant for its medicinal value in the mid 1990s and the endocannabinoid system was found, we’ve seen an explosion over the past two decades of countries legalizing the cannabis plant once again.
Through the same growing process that allows breeders to raise THC and reduce CBD levels in the cannabis plant, growers interested in the medicinal effects of cannabis were then able to do the reverse, raising CBD while dropping THC down to miniscule levels leaving a product that has zero psychoactive properties for those wishing to avoid the “high” but take advantage of the medicinal properties.
There is an extensive list of health concerns that respond extremely positively to CBD, some of which are autoimmune disorders such as fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and endometriosis, seizures, inflammation, anxiety, pain, stress, and cancer. We take our time to examine the research and provide the evidence in easy to read articles over on our blog if you’re interested in learning more about how cannabinoid rich products in CBD can help.
It’s important when using any type of cannabis product that the entourage effect is locked in by ensuring the product contains terpenes and other beneficial plant compounds so the user can experience enhanced synergy, bioavailability and effectiveness.
As we’ve mentioned previously, countries across the world are legalizing the use of cannabis as the research mounts and the grassroots applause continues to grow louder. As we continue to educate on cannabis, hemp, cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system and the entourage effect, we will see more understanding from the general public, and as such, more doors will open for hemp and cannabis to become a mainstream staple in the management of our health and wellbeing.
