Tetrahydrocannabinol

Definition: Tetrahydrocannabinol

Tetrahydrocannabinol

Noun

1. Psychoactive substance present in marijuana.

Domain	Definitions
Health	A psychoactive compound extracted from the resin of Cannabis sativa (marihuana, hashish). The isomer delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is considered the most active form, producing characteristic mood and perceptual changes associated with this compound. Dronabinol is a synthetic form of delta-9-THC. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The chemical compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the psychoactive substance in cannabis.

Its molecular formula is C₂₁H₃₀O₂, with a molecular weight of 314.45. Its chemical name is tetrahydro-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-1-ol, and it may also be known as (L)-delta-1-tetrahydrocannibinol, or trans-delta-1-tetrahydrocannibinol. It has a boiling point of 200°C (392°F). It has a LD₅₀ of 1270 mg/kg (male rats), 730 mg/kg (female rats) orally (administered dissolved in sesame oil).

Its actions on the body are the result of its binding to a cellular receptor, which was known as the cannabinoid receptor. Since cannabinoids are not naturally produced in the human body, the search began for the substance that normally binds to this receptor, leading to the eventual discovery of anandamide. Studies of the distribution of the receptors in the brain explain why the LD50 of the compound is so large: parts of the brain that control vital functions such as respiration do not have many receptors, so are relatively unaffected even by doses larger than could ever be ingested under any normal conditions.

Effects include relaxation, euphoria, altered space-time perception, enhancement of visual, auditory, and olfactory senses, disorientation, and appetite stimulation.

A number of studies indicate medical benefits for cancer and AIDS patients by increasing appetite and decreasing nausea. It has been shown to assist some glaucoma patients by reducing pressure within the eye, and is used, illegally, in the form of cannabis by a number of multiple sclerosis patients for relieving spasm. Other studies indicate a variety of negative effects associated with constant, long-term use, including memory loss, depression, and loss of motivation. The long-term effects of THC on humans is highly disputed, and the issue is politicized due cannabis' status as a narcotic.

Since Sep 1, 2003, the medicine Dronabinol (which contains THC) is available in Dutch pharmacies, for cancer and AIDS patients. An American analogue called Marinol is also available.

See also: medical marijuana, cannabis, War on Drugs

Synonym: Tetrahydrocannabinol

Synonym: THC (n). (additional references)

Crosswords: Tetrahydrocannabinol

Specialty definitions using "tetrahydrocannabinol": Cannabinoids. (references)

"Tetrahydrocannabinol" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Tetrahydrocannabinol" is used about 2 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	2	245,945

Hyphenated Usage
	Containing "tetrahydrocannabinol": 11-nor-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "tetrahydrocannabinol"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		tetrahydrocannabinol. (various references)

Dutch		tetrahydrocannabinol (dronabinol, Marinol). (various references)

French		tétrahydrocannabinol. (various references)

German		Tetrahydrocannabinol. (various references)

Greek		τετραϋδροκανναβινόλη. (various references)

Italian		tetraidrocannabinolo, tetraidrocannabinoli, Delta-9-THC. (various references)

Pig Latin		etrahydrocannabinoltay

Portuguese		tetrahidrocanabinol. (various references)

Spanish		tetrahidrocannabinol. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "tetrahydrocannabinol": tetrahydrocannabinols. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words containing the letters "a-a-a-b-c-d-e-h-i-l-n-n-n-o-o-r-r-t-t-y"
	+1 letter: tetrahydrocannabinols.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

54 65 74 72 61 68 79 64 72 6F 63 61 6E 6E 61 62 69 6E 6F 6C

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

⁼

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

- . - .-. .- .... -.--. -.. .-. --- -.-. .- -. -. .- -... .. -. --- .-..

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01010100 01100101 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101000 01111001 01100100 01110010 01101111 01100011 01100001 01101110 01101110 01100001 01100010 01101001 01101110 01101111 01101100

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#84 &#101 &#116 &#114 &#97 &#104 &#121 &#100 &#114 &#111 &#99 &#97 &#110 &#110 &#97 &#98 &#105 &#110 &#111 &#108

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0054 0065 0074 0072 0061 0068 0079 0064 0072 006F 0063 0061 006E 006E 0061 0062 0069 006E 006F 006C

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Tetrahydrocannabinol

Definition: Tetrahydrocannabinol