Which Named Which or Which Came First
Many systems work intricately together to make up, as a whole, the human body. You can’t survive unless the digestive system processes and makes available nutrients. You suffocate if your respiratory system doesn’t inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Another, but lesser known, system is the endocannabinoid system.
The endocannabinoid system is, to use computer terminology, one of the CPUs (central processing unit) spread out in the body. Through chemical communication it helps regulate the immune system, intracellular dialogue, appetite, memory, and more. Broken down, endocannabinoid means internal cannabinoid or cannabinoid within.
Perhaps you are questioning: “Aren’t THC and CBD called cannabinoids? ” The answer is a resounding “yes”. So that begs the question: Which came first?” CBD and THC!
In the early 1960s, Israeli scientist Raphael Mechoulam’s lab pinned down the chemical structures of CBD and THC in cannabis which are referred to as cannabinoids after the plant.
Research on the cannabis plant led to the discovery of an internal system that used chemicals like cannabinoids to run itself. As a nod to the breaking research, the system was called the endocannabinoid system after the plant.
So as naming goes, the plant came first.
The Lit Librarian 