CBG: What It Is and Why We Care

Cannabigerol is a cannabinoid that is identified in our lab reports and if you haven ‘t ever looked at the lab reports from SC Labs, we’ve attached a few herein for you to review.

The abbreviation for Cannabigerol is CBG and it shows on our test results for the plant material we use for our salves and for our tea as CBG and CBGa. CBG is just one of over a hundred chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant. Cannabis and hemp are two names for the same plant family. CBGa is considered the precursor or fore-runner to CBD because CBGa, the acidic form of CBG, breaks down to form CBG, CBD, THC, and CBC when heated. Fortunately, hemp laws that govern the non-psychoactive forms of cannabis don’t consider the potential of the medicine when regulating, just whether or not it is psychoactive in its raw, unprocessed form.

CBD and CBG are both non-psychoactive cannabinoids, meaning you won’t get high from them. There’s been a fair bit of research done on CBD, but not so much on CBG. Thus far, it seems that CBG is more helpful with inflammation and pain, while CBD is more helpful for anxiety and sleeplessness. That’s probably too simple of an explanation, but that is what the science is telling us so far.

Of course, we believe that pure plant oil is the best, but the chemical compound of the pure plant medicine is also influenced by the breeding. It appears from our test results of our plant and our gelcaps that our gardens have plants genetically bred to be high in CBD but contain only trace amounts of CBG. The amount of Cannabigerol medicine in our plants, across the product line, is miniscule, equaling that of the THC levels. It is obvious our plants and all our medicine are CBD centric and now we have to invest in CBG plants and we wonder how different that will be.

According to Sian Fergusen* in her article of 2018, Cannabigerol (CBG) is better than Cannabidiols (CBD) in treating inflammatory bowel disease, glaucoma, bladder dysfunctions, Huntington’s Disease, bacterial infelctions, cancer, appetite loss – but much more research is needed to confirm these early hypotheses. The sisters and anyone in the industry would argue that full spectrum pure plant oil is best for treating cancer and much more study will be required to isolate which compounds do what, but we believe that science will come back to concluding, ‘yep, you were right, the best cancer medicine is all the cannabis compounds in one oil’.

We would make and sell pure plant oil if the regulations allowed us to. As it is, we make it for loved ones and for people within the enclave who need it or their relatives who need it. We take our Gel Caps (gelatin capsules with 30 mg of CBD each) for health maintenance if over age fifty and for the young people, they take it when they are unwell only or anxious and can’t sleep. Pure plant oil, we believe, is overkill if taken daily by healthy folks, unless they are advancing in age.

By winter solstice, we should have our CBG tea on the shelf. And maybe a tincture or oil-based drops that are high in Cannabigerol, as well. Say ‘Cannabigerol’ three times fast. Now do it with your eyes closed and while clicking your heals. Yes, you just helped us make magic.

*Sian Ferguson referenced herein is a freelance writer and editor based in Cape Town, South Africa. Her writing covers issues relating to social justice, cannabis, and health.