A cannabinoid is a compound that either acts on the cannabinoid receptors (CB1, CB2) or belongs to the chemical family the cannabis plant makes in its trichome heads. The word covers three groups: phytocannabinoids (made by plants), endocannabinoids (made by animals, such as anandamide) and synthetic cannabinoids (made in a lab). More than 100 phytocannabinoids have been described from cannabis, though only a handful occur at more than trace levels.
In practice
Growers and labs mostly mean the plant's major cannabinoids: THCA, CBDA, CBGA and their neutral forms THC, CBD and CBG. On a typical drug-type flower COA, THCA makes up well over 90% of the cannabinoid total, with the rest split between Δ9-THC, CBGA and minor compounds. A "high cannabinoid" plant is one with a high total across all of them, not only THC.
Don't confuse with
- Terpene: aroma compounds made in the same trichome heads; they are not cannabinoids, even though both share a precursor pathway.
- Phytocannabinoid: the narrower, plant-only subset of cannabinoids.
- Synthetic cannabinoid: lab-made receptor agonists, often unrelated in structure and not found in the plant.
Trichome heads are the bulbous resin-filled tops of capitate glandular trichomes, where cannabis makes and stores nearly all its cannabinoids and terpenes; they are the raw material of hash.A phytocannabinoid is a cannabinoid made by a plant, chiefly the terpenophenolic compounds cannabis builds in its glandular trichomes, such as THCA, CBDA and CBGA.THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) is the acid cannabinoid that drug-type cannabis makes in its trichomes; heat or time decarboxylates it into THC, losing about 12% of its mass.CBGA (cannabigerolic acid) is the precursor cannabinoid that the plant converts into THCA, CBDA or CBCA, formed by joining olivetolic acid to geranyl pyrophosphate.THC (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the neutral, decarboxylated cannabinoid mainly responsible for cannabis's reported intoxicating effects; the living plant makes it almost entirely as THCA.CBD (cannabidiol) is a non-intoxicating neutral cannabinoid formed when CBDA decarboxylates; hemp-type and CBD-dominant cannabis make it mainly as CBDA in their trichomes.CBG (cannabigerol) is the neutral, decarboxylated form of CBGA, the cannabinoid precursor; most plants convert nearly all of it onward, but some cultivars are bred to accumulate it.Terpenes are volatile hydrocarbon compounds built from five-carbon isoprene units; in cannabis they are made in the trichome heads and are a major part of aroma and flavour.CBDA (cannabidiolic acid) is the acid cannabinoid made by CBDA synthase from CBGA; it dominates hemp-type and CBD-type cannabis and decarboxylates to CBD.Acid cannabinoids (THCA, CBDA, CBGA) are the carboxylated forms the plant makes; neutral cannabinoids (THC, CBD, CBG) form when heat or time removes the carboxyl group.
