When people think about cannabis, they now focus on single cannabinoids within the plant. THC is the most well-known cannabinoid, but its more mellow sister CBD has also launched an entire additional sector of business. Right now, people are fixated on delta-8 and were previously focused on CBG and CBN. But the truth is that drilling down to specific properties has all been done before by pharma. Aspirin was originally derived from a compound in willow bark. Nowadays, it is created synthetically, but it started out as a salicin extraction from willow bark that was then converted to the salicylic acid to make aspirin. When you take vitamin C rather than eat an orange, you are opting to have a specific property taken out of a plant and consumed in a high concentration. The link between food and health was established centuries ago. Hippocrates famously said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” While creating a very high concentration can aid in health depending upon the medical issue, it is also likely that most of that will be flushed out from the body rather than absorbed. The difference with cannabis is that its true healing power lies with accessing the whole plant rather than picking and choosing compounds. If that’s the case, then why is the market booming with distillate products? This is where the pharmaceutical approach truly comes into play: It’s cheaper and easier to do.
Jason Neely, Cannabis Business Times, 08/02/2021 10:51:08