Cannabinoids: the map that explains the rest
Most explanations of cannabinoids are lists, and a list explains nothing. The plant builds all of these compounds from a single precursor, in a fixed order — and once you know the order, the practical questions answer themselves.
Why CBG costs several times more. Why raw cannabis is not intoxicating. Why old material contains more CBN. Why “raw” on a label means something different from “decarboxylated”. All the same diagram.
The family tree
The plant makes CBGA. Three enzymes convert it into three acid forms — THCA, CBDA, CBCA. Whatever no enzyme reaches stays CBGA, and becomes CBG when heated.
Then comes heat: drying, extraction, baking, smoking. It removes a carboxyl group as CO₂ and turns the acid forms into the neutral ones — THC, CBD, CBC.
Then comes time: oxygen, light and warmth break THC down further. What is left is CBN.
What follows from it
Raw cannabis is not intoxicating. The living plant contains THCA, not THC, and THCA is not psychoactive. Only heat converts it. This is exactly why baking and decarboxylation work and eating raw material does not.
CBG is expensive because it is the leftover. It is the starting material, and in a mature plant almost all of it has been consumed. Getting CBG means harvesting early or growing dedicated cultivars — both cost yield. Price per milligram typically runs three to five times CBD.
Old material contains more CBN. Because CBN is the degradation product of THC, its concentration works as a clock: it tells you how long something sat, and how badly it was stored.
“Raw” means not decarboxylated. The product contains mostly CBDA rather than CBD. Not a quality question — a different composition, and one that makes the headline number on the label worth checking.
The conversion that inflates labels
Removing the carboxyl group costs mass. The ratio of molecular weights gives a fixed factor:
1 mg of CBDA yields about 0.877 mg of CBD.
So 1,000 mg of CBDA becomes roughly 877 mg of CBD, not 1,000. About 12 % leaves as carbon dioxide.
Certificates report three figures: CBD, CBDA, and total CBD, the last calculated as
CBD + (CBDA × 0.877).
Total CBD is a meaningful number — for material that is going to be heated. On a raw product it is the wrong one: the CBDA in it is still CBDA and will stay that way. Printing total CBD on a raw product advertises a conversion that has not happened.
What this costs you: comparing price per milligram of total CBD on a raw product against price per milligram of actual CBD on a decarboxylated one compares a calculation with a measurement.
The main cannabinoids
| Origin | Intoxicating | Typical content | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBGA | made by the plant | no | precursor, gets consumed |
| CBG | leftover CBGA, heated | no | usually under 1 % |
| CBDA | made by the plant | no | dominant in raw material |
| CBD | from CBDA by heat | no | often double-digit |
| THCA | made by the plant | no | dominant in raw material |
| THC | from THCA by heat | yes | under the limit in hemp |
| CBC | from CBCA by heat | no | low |
| CBN | THC degradation | very weakly at most | rises with age |
Phyto, endo and synthetic
The word covers three groups that get confused with each other.
Phytocannabinoids come from the plant — everything in the table above.
Endocannabinoids are made by the body, such as anandamide and 2-AG. They are the reason the receptors that plant cannabinoids bind to exist at all.
Synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids are made in a laboratory. HHC belongs here: it is produced by hydrogenation, from THC or from CBD. Semi-synthetic means the input is from the plant but the output is not found in nature in meaningful amounts. Legally this is its own question, it differs by country, and it changes quickly.
Going deeper
- CBD isolate — the five steps that produce 99 % purity, and why it is usually cheapest per milligram.
- CBN vs CBD — the one the plant does not make, and where the sleep claims actually came from.
- CBDA — the form the plant really produces, and the 0.877 factor in detail.
What this page will not tell you
What any of these compounds do.
Two reasons. Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 authorises no health claim for any cannabinoid. And the research is thinner than the industry’s tone suggests — EFSA has not been able to establish the safety of regular oral consumption of cannabidiol, reaffirmed that in 2025, and pointed to a provisional reference value in the order of 2 mg per day. Safety could not be established for people under 25, for pregnant or breastfeeding women, or for people taking medication.
If you take prescription medication, that conversation belongs with a doctor or pharmacist: these compounds are broken down by liver enzymes that also process a large number of drugs.
Frequently asked questions
What are cannabinoids? A family of compounds that interact with the endocannabinoid system. Phytocannabinoids come from the plant, endocannabinoids are made by the body, synthetic ones are made in a laboratory.
How many cannabinoids are there? Over a hundred have been described in the plant, but only a handful occur in meaningful amounts.
Which cannabinoid comes first? CBGA. The plant builds all the others from it, which is why it is called the mother cannabinoid.
Why is raw cannabis not intoxicating? Because it contains THCA rather than THC. Only heat removes the carboxyl group and converts it.
What is decarboxylation? The removal of a carboxyl group as CO₂ by heat, turning CBDA into CBD and THCA into THC.
Why do some labels say total CBD? Because it is CBD plus converted CBDA. On a raw product that figure describes a conversion that has not taken place.
Is HHC a natural cannabinoid? No. HHC is semi-synthetic, usually made by hydrogenation, and is not present in the plant in meaningful amounts.