Since 2015, Georgia cannabis patients can legally purchase up to 20 ounces of low THC cannabis oil. Although only legal if the oil contains less than 5% delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabis across the nation has seen an immense increase in THC potency.
With some strains reaching over 30%, THC content can play a critical role in what your cannabis does and how it works.
With such a range in THC percentage, is high THC content always best?
Georgia Marijuana Card is your go-to resource for cannabis news and information, and in this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about THC content in Georgia!
Georgia Cannabis: Terpenes and Cannabinoids
Cannabis is a complex plant with many different parts, and those parts work together to produce different effects. Because there are so many different components, there are several factors that determine the experience, duration, and strength, based on different parts of the plant.
What are Terpenes?
Terpenes are in the same glands as THC and CBD, and they generate part of the flavor and the scent of cannabis strains. They also play an important role in what effects are produced, ranging from relaxed, sedated, happy or focused.
Any one strain of cannabis can have a completely different profile of terpenes than another, this is what makes up a terpene profile.
The terpene profile is responsible for a large part of how the effects of cannabis are experienced.
Some terpenes like myrcene promote drowsiness and pain relief for example. Found in strains like Granddaddy Purple and OG Kush, many strains with high levels of myrcene are very heavy and sedating.
Other terpenes like limonene, which is found in strains like Wedding Cake and Banana OG, produce a lemon scent and promote mood elevation, tension relief and maybe some antibacterial properties.
Terpenes play a huge role in producing specific effects, perhaps nearly as much as THC. Although THC is a stronger psychoactive compound, terpenes can help adjust the effects into specific categories like happy, sleepy, or hungry, and this will play a big role in how the effects are felt.
What are Cannabinoids?
Cannabinoids are compounds found in the cannabis plant. The most widely recognized cannabinoids include THC, CBD, CBG and CBN.
There are a lot of other cannabinoids in the cannabis plant as well, and scientists are slowly making headway in researching and uncovering them all.
Cannabinoids work by interacting with cannabinoid receptors built onto the surface of cells inside your body. The central nervous system has many of these receptors, and the two main ones that cannabinoids interact with are the CB1 receptor and the CB2 receptor.
Cannabinoids work with terpenes and other compounds to eventually make their way across your body and into your brain, where they will work in a variety of ways to produce the effects that are specific to that strain, with that terpene profile and those cannabinoids.
These cannabinoids come in different forms and do different things.
Some cannabinoids like THC and CBN produce a feeling of euphoria or drowsiness, while CBD and CBG are not intoxicating.
Does THC Content Matter for Georgia Cannabis Patients?
Georgia Cannabis patients might be limited to their oil having less than 5% THC, but as you’ve read so far, it’s pretty easy to say that THC alone is not the determining factor for effects.
In fact, THC content is often misunderstood and overexaggerated, and as it turns out does play an important role, but probably not the way you think.
· Higher THC content does not automatically mean a stronger effect.
· Higher THC does mean stronger potency.
· Lower THC doesn’t automatically produce a lighter effect.
· Lower THC does mean lesser potency.
Products with high THC content usually produce a stronger effect faster, but the THC content is often irrelevant to what effects would be produced.
In the case of extremely high THC with little to no other cannabinoids or terpenes, the immense amount of THC can produce its own array of effects that overextend what would otherwise be noticeable from the terpenes and cannabinoids. These effects can often be unpleasant, like dry mouth, dizziness, and paranoia.
Products with a lower THC percentage are usually more dependent on the terpene profile and other cannabinoids present in the product.
If the THC content is relatively low but the terpenes and cannabinoids are heavily present and intact, the effects will be present and identifiable.
The unpleasant effects from too much THC consumption are nonexistent in this case, and the effects produced in the absence of THC can be pronounced.
The difference between cannabis flower grown with 15% total THC and cannabis flower with 25% total THC could be incredibly different or incredibly slight depending on their terpene profiles.
The difference between 0% and 5% THC is almost negligible, and is at the very least arbitrary in terms of the effects produced by THC alone. On the contrary, even minimal amounts of THC can help produce something called the entourage effect, an experience where all the compounds present can work synergistically to produce the “high”.
Although the difference between 0% and 5% is much less pronounced than the difference between 15% and 25%, it is ultimately subjective to the patient. The medicinal and therapeutic effects that cannabis is sought out for can often be found with many of the compounds and terpenes in the cannabis plant, sometimes with, and sometimes without, THC.
What THC Content Really Means for Georgia Cannabis Patients
Georgia Cannabis Patients have a fairly small window in picking the amount of THC they want in their cannabis products. Although Georgia is working on figuring out a comprehensive medical marijuana program, currently the options are limited to products with less than 5% THC.
But as we’ve found out, higher THC does not always mean a more effective product, that is highly relative to your condition, biology, and all the compounds together in your product.
The therapeutic effects of THC are often reported by use of whole plant material containing many cannabinoids and terpenes, in a ratio of CBD:THC, or in some cases as a microdose alongside other cannabinoids.
While certain conditions may see more therapeutic benefit with using THC alone, it is also common that many conditions see therapeutic benefit from using other cannabinoids with and without THC.
Georgia cannabis patients should be excited to know that while the industry is developing, the science behind cannabinoid extraction and research is currently undergoing a massive explosion of growth.
Every day more and more information about cannabinoids and how they work is coming out, and that knowledge will help the industry create more effective, better products for Georgia cannabis patients.
Get Your Georgia Marijuana Card
As a Georgia marijuana patient, you can legally possess up to 20 ounces of low THC cannabis oil. While there aren’t any dispensaries open just yet, the State hopes to see the first dispensary to open in late 2021.
For Georgians, this means getting the relief you need naturally and organically, and Georgia Marijuana Card is here to help.
Feel free to give us a call at (866) 781-5606, and we can help answer your questions about getting medical marijuana in Georgia
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