In the Beginning
In 1964, two young scientists, Dr. Raphael Mechoulam and Dr. Yechiel Gaoni, were the first to isolate and map the molecular structure of THC. This cannabinoid is, of course, the primary and only psychoactive chemical compound found in cannabis.
Late in 2010, this author had the pleasure and privilege to interview Dr. Mechoulam at his laboratory at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. During that interview, I asked him a simple question: Why cannabis? And his answer was simple as well. In short, Dr. Mechoulam was interested in “natural products” that could elicit a therapeutic response within the human body. And while other plants, such as coca and poppy, had already been refined for medical purposes—cocaine in 1860 and morphine in 1803, the latter being believed to be the first isolation and extraction of an active compound from a plant—there was not an overabundance of options left. So “Why not cannabis?” Dr. Mechoulam asked in response.
Dr. Raphael Mechoulam/ High Times Archive
Less than a year after my interview with Dr. Mechoulam, another prominent scientist, Dr. Ethan Russo, published an equally important piece of research in the British Journal of Pharmacology, “Taming THC: Potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects.” Dr. Russo is a board-certified neurologist, former senior medical advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals and a widely published author in many scientific journals, books, and periodicals (including our very own High Times).
Building off of the previous work and ideology of Mechoulam and Gaoni, Dr. Russo introduced the next steps in our collective understanding of the effects and benefits of marijuana, this time focusing not just on cannabinoids, but also on the terpenoid content present in the plant. Both the isolated effects of other cannabinoids (such as CBD, CBG, THCV,