Understanding the Endocannabinoid System

The body's own balancing act.

Long before anyone rolled a joint, your body was making cannabinoids of its own. The endocannabinoid system (ECS for short) is a network of chemical messengers and receptors found throughout the brain and body. Researchers first mapped it between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s, while trying to understand how cannabis works. What they found turned out to be one of the body's key regulators.

Three parts, working together

• Endocannabinoids. These are compounds your body makes on demand. The best known are anandamide, named for the Sanskrit word for bliss, and 2-AG.

• Receptors. CB1 receptors are concentrated in the brain and nervous system. CB2 receptors are found mostly in immune cells and tissues throughout the body.

• Enzymes. These break endocannabinoids down once their work is done, so the signal lasts only as long as it's needed.

What it does

The ECS helps keep things steady, a state scientists call homeostasis. It plays a part in regulating mood, sleep, appetite, memory, how we perceive pain, and immune response. When something drifts out of balance, endocannabinoids are released to help nudge it back.

Where the plant comes in

Cannabis produces its own cannabinoids, and they interact with this same system. THC binds to CB1 receptors, much as anandamide does, which is why it's felt so distinctly in mind and body. CBD works more subtly: it barely binds to those receptors, and instead influences how they and other signaling pathways behave. Lesser-known cannabinoids like CBG and THCV each engage the system in their own way.

There's so much more to learn. The science is young, and everyone's ECS is a little different, which is part of why the same flower can feel different from one person to the next. It's also why we grow for the whole plant, not just THC.