Your Cannabis Questions, Answered: How are THC and CBD different?
Transcript - Your Cannabis Questions, Answered: How are THC and CBD different?
Video description: A panel of experts respond to questions from individual Canadians.
Canadian: What is the difference between CBD and THC?
Text on screen: Canadians have questions about cannabis.
What is the difference between CBD and THC?
Dr. Oyedeji Ayonrinde, Associate Professor, Psychiatry: Cannabis has several hundred different compounds in them, and two of the better understood are THC and CBD. THC is a psychoactive component of cannabis, it has mood-altering effects and on the whole gives the high, While CBD is not psychoactive, and when used in cannabis actually gives a number of people a relaxing, calming effect.
You can consider THC for instance being the accelerator of the car, and CBD the brakes. They are two different compounds within cannabis with completely different effects. So on the whole, we can't say marijuana is all dangerous, there's some bits of it, compounds like CBD that are being used for medicinal effects. However, knowing the difference and knowing the combinations and understanding the risk is very important in young people and older people.
Text on screen: Your cannabis questions, answered.
A message from the Government of Canada