A long-running feature of The Cannabist Show involves Cannabist editor-in-chief Ricardo Baca asking his guests this question, “indica or sativa?”
There might not necessarily be a simple answer to that for those who consume marijuana, says Max Montrose, who heads cannabis training and certification firm the Trichome Institute.
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A lot of confusion surrounds cannabis and the chemistry of the plant, he says.
“Unfortunately, most people don’t know what indica and sativa truly mean,” Montrose says. ” … A lot of people know this thing called sativa, but we have a lot of genomic evidence that supports the idea that the DNA and the chemotype, the chemistry, of a sativa is strictly hemp.”
There are certain types of cannabis that can stimulate and others that can relax; however, because the plants are vastly hybridized, it’s not necessarily sativa- or indica-dependent, he says.
“It’s terpene-dependent,” he says. “It’s the terpenes that will dictate the psychoactivity that we’ll experience from cannabis, not really the cannabinoids.”
Montrose delves into the dynamics and chemistry of cannabis on The Cannabist Show.
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