Cannabis has been used medicinally, therapeutically, and spiritually for millennia. Humans have had a long history with this plant species since we have grown it as a source of food, textiles, and recreation all across the world. The connection between humans and cannabis is so strong that some experts believe we developed with the plant.
The usage of hemp and marijuana plant extracts may be traced back to 3000 BC, when Chinese writings identified it as effective for pain management.
Queen Victoria is said to have taken CBD for menstrual pains in the nineteenth century! Hemp was commonly grown in England at the time. So, of course, when colonists left England for America, they carried hemp with them.
The Discovery of Cannabinoids
Although most people think that the first cannabinoid to be discovered was CBD, this common belief isn’t accurate. In fact, the first cannabinoid to be discovered was CBN (cannabinol). A British chemist known as R.S. Cahn discovered CBDN in the 1930s. This was the first time an individual cannabinoid was discovered!
R. Adams in the United States is credited with discovering CBD (cannabidiol) in 1940, and the very first THC analogs were extracted in 1942. In 1963, Israeli scholar Dr. Raphael Mechoulam determined the stereochemistry of CBD based on Adams' study. The stereochemistry of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) was discovered by Mechoulam and his team the following year (1943). (THC).
CBD was once assumed to be a natural predecessor of THC because of its ease of synthetic conversion and chemical similarities. However, studies have shown that CBD and THC are created independently of one another within the cannabis plant.
Early Cannabinoid Pharmacology Research
While CBD and other important cannabinoids had reached human consciousness by the 1940s, their effects were not fully known until much later. Cannabidiol's clinical uses were identified in the 1980s, but the stigma around the plant prevented this information from entering public consciousness until the 2000s.
Loewe S. produced one of the earliest pharmacological observations from these tests. He observed that THC as well as synhexyl, but not CBD, caused catalepsy in mice. CBN produced catalepsy in mice though at fatal levels, THC and synhexyl exhibited a central excitant activity, notably in rabbits and mice, and THC and synhexyl provoked corneal areflexia in rabbits but not CBN or CBD.
Around the same time, Loewe observed that CBD can extend sleep in mice caused by an unidentified barbiturate but not larger levels of CBN or THC.
Cannabinoids Pharmacology research expanded significantly in the 60s and 70s, but scientists had a limited grasp of how cannabinoids are formed and only a partial comprehension of their biological content inside hemp throughout these times.
Early researchers were unable to establish which chemical was responsible for which impact due to a lack of understanding. Dr. Mechoulam and his colleagues investigated the possible uses of CBD for epilepsy treatment in the 1980s.
Almost immediately following Mecholan's research, interest in cannabinoids' therapeutic applications revealed even more cannabinoids, a deeper understanding of how cannabinoids are structured, and the unexpected discovery of the endocannabinoid System, which is a network of receptors in the body that engage with cannabinoids.
Today, more and more research on pharmacological applications of cannabinoids is ongoing, especially after several countries legalized the use of cannabis for recreational and medicinal use.
Final Thought
The history of cannabinoids is long! What we did was just scratch the surface of the history of this super plant. Today, scientists are conducting more studies and discovering additional cannabinoids. They are also studying the clinical applications of these cannabinoids. We hope to see a lot more happening in the world of cannabis and cannabinoids.
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