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Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 15, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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IME, terpenes by themselves do very little (although they do have an effect). Whereas THC by itself has a very strong, clear, unmistakable effect. So I don't think that theory is true.

Well the idea is that the “high” effect of THC (and maybe CBD) is “directed” by the addition of terpenes. So a relaxing terpene would make the experience more relaxing, or an energetic one more energetic. The circumstantial evidence is that the user-graded relaxing strains only differ in specifically higher terpenes which are shown to promote relaxation in human and mice studies. How this would work is understudied. You know how you can get high one day and feel like a child again, but then on another day you might feel like you’re in a Truman Show scene? This may be due to terpenes + environmental context (and perhaps terpenes are just another element of environmental context).

It's likely that they interact, yes. Have you heard about wild dagga (Leonotis leonurus)? It has terpenes similar (but not equal) to those in cannabis, but no cannabinoids. It could be interesting to test that + THC and compare with cannabis and THC on its own. Any difference in effect due to terpenes should become apparent.