Jacob Evans
5/10/16
Chemistry Report: THC tetrahydrocannabinol
Tetrahydrocannabinol also known as THC is a compound naturally found in plants,
specifically of the cannabis family. The oldest known recorded use of this chemical is in
2727 BC as medicine by a Chinese pharmacist, and 4000 years prior as food stuffs. It is
widely considered to be a hallucinogen drug due to its ability to effect the visual cortex of
the human frontal lobe, however most people who use the drug do not experience
hallucinations often, or in some cases at all. Due to its vast history, there have been several
legal controversies over the past century regarding the prohibition of THC in the United
States, however many have legalized it fully, where as others have recognized it’s medical
potential and use for those who can benefit from the side effects of inhaling or consuming
it in the natural form of marijuana buds, nugs and leaves.
THCA, or tetrahydrocannabinol acid, is the precursor of THC which acts very differently
in the human body compared to one another. THCA degrades into THC when the flower or
leaves of marijuana age or are burnt, similar to the way fruit sugars such as fructose are
only present in ripened fruit after sucrose has degraded over time and exposure to oxygen.
The transition of THCA to THC is referred to as decarboxylation. THCA is suggested to
have beneficial properties such as anti-inflammatory properties that can help prevent or
reduce the effects of arthritis and/or lupus. THCA also helps to inhibit growth of
carcinomas on or around the prostate as it is consumed. Both THCA and THC have been
observed in studies to have anti-emetic properties that reduce nausea and increase appetite.
However, THC has been found to impair cognitive memory reproduction when consumed
in adolescence due to deformity of the hippocampus in adulthood, where as THCA has
recently been found to be a treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. This is not to say that
THCA can reverse the effect of THC’s affect on the brain when used over long-terms,
however they do seem to have extremely opposite effects, with the one exception of
appetite and nausea. THCA has proven to be not only harmless but also advantageous,
whereas it will be apparent how inimical THC can be in certain settings.
THC is mostly used as a sub-treatment in cancer patients due to the most common
treatment of cancer being chemotherapy which is where a person riddled with cancer is put
