The phytochemical diversity of commercial Cannabis in the United States

The legal status of Cannabis is changing, fueling an increasing diversity of Cannabis-derived products. Because Cannabis contains dozens of chemical compounds with potential psychoactive or medicinal effects, understanding this phytochemical diversity is crucial. The legal Cannabis industry heavily...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-05, Vol.17 (5), p.e0267498-e0267498
Main Authors: Smith, Christiana J, Vergara, Daniela, Keegan, Brian, Jikomes, Nick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Analgesics
Biology and Life Sciences
Cannabidiol
Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists
Cannabinoids
Cannabis
Cannabis - chemistry
Cannabis industry
Chemical compounds
Consumers
Flowers & plants
Hallucinogens
Hemp
Labels
Management
Marijuana
Marijuana industry
Marketing
Medicine and Health Sciences
Names
People and places
Phenotypes
Physical Sciences
Phytochemicals
Research and Analysis Methods
Tetrahydrocannabinol
THC
United States
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Summary:The legal status of Cannabis is changing, fueling an increasing diversity of Cannabis-derived products. Because Cannabis contains dozens of chemical compounds with potential psychoactive or medicinal effects, understanding this phytochemical diversity is crucial. The legal Cannabis industry heavily markets products to consumers based on widely used labeling systems purported to predict the effects of different "strains." We analyzed the cannabinoid and terpene content of commercial Cannabis samples across six US states, finding distinct chemical phenotypes (chemotypes) which are reliably present. By comparing the observed phytochemical diversity to the commercial labels commonly attached to Cannabis-derived product samples, we show that commercial labels do not consistently align with the observed chemical diversity. However, certain labels do show a biased association with specific chemotypes. These results have implications for the classification of commercial Cannabis, design of animal and human research, and regulation of consumer marketing-areas which today are often divorced from the chemical reality of the Cannabis-derived material they wish to represent.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0267498