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THC is very well known as the intoxicating compound, and it can also be one of the most plentiful cannabinoid present in a given product, depending on the strain of cannabis. More potent plants are even bred specifically for their high levels of THC. However, if a person were to chew on a freshly picked cannabis plant, he or she wouldn\’t feel any special feeling, because there is almost no THC in the raw cannabis plant.
All of the major cannabinoids in the cannabis plant come from CBGA, or cannabigerolic acid. This is considered to be the mother plant, so to speak, and as the cannabis plants mature, they convert enzymes from each cannabis strain from CBGA, to one of the three major types of cannabis compounds. These are: THCA, or tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, CBDA, cannabidiolic acid, and CBCA, cannabichromenic acid.
THCA is the beginning part, or precursor, to THC. In order to produce the intoxicating compound, THC, the cannabis plant has to be exposed to heat, in a process known as decarboxylation. In this chemical change, the THCA loses its properties in the acidic carbonyl group, and turns into THC. This process, by heat, and also by sunlight, is the reason why the fresh cannabis plant would not produce euphoric effects yet, since there likely was no time for sunlight, or for any other heat or energy source, to promote THC formation.
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