What makes marijuana, marijuana?
Cannabinoids, terpenoids, and other compounds are secreted by glandular trichomes that occur most abundantly on the floral calyxes and bracts of female plants.[20] As a drug it usually comes in the form of dried flower buds (marijuana), resin (hashish), or various extracts collectively known as hashish oil.[3] In the early 20th century, it became illegal in most of the world to cultivate or possess Cannabis for sale or personal use.
The unique pharmacological properties of cannabis are due to the presence of cannabinoids, a group of more than 100 natural products that mainly accumulate in female flowers (“buds”) [9,10]. Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the principle psychoactive cannabinoid and the compound responsible for the analgesic, antiemetic and appetite-stimulating effects of cannabis [11,12]. Non-psychoactive cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD), cannabichromene (CBC) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), which possess diverse pharmacological activities, are also present in some varieties or strains [13-15]. Cannabinoids are synthesized as carboxylic acids and upon heating or smoking decarboxylate to their neutral forms; for example, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) is converted to THC. Although cannabinoid biosynthesis is not understood at the biochemical or genetic level, several key enzymes have been identified including a candidate polyketide synthase and the two oxidocyclases, THCA synthase (THCAS) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) synthase, which form the major cannabinoid acids [16-18].