Table 1.
Terminology and Definitions (Adapted from Soliman et al., 2019, after modification from Hauser et al. 2018).
| Term | Definition | Examples/typical products |
|---|---|---|
| (Herbal) Cannabis | The whole plant or parts or material from the plant (e.g. flowers, buds, resin, leaves) | Cannabis sativa, hashish |
| Medical or medicinal cannabis | The term ‘medical/medicinal cannabis’ (or ‘medical/medicinal marijuana’) is used for cannabis plants, plant material, or full plant extracts used for medical purposes. | Bedrocan®, Bedrobinol®, Tilray 10THC/10CBD® |
| Cannabis-based (or cannabis-derived) medicines | Medicinal cannabis extracts with regulatory approval for marketing as a therapeutic with defined and standardized THC and/or CBD content. | Nabiximols (Sativex®), dronabinol (Marinol®), Epidiolex® |
| Cannabinoids | Cannabinoids are biologically active constituents of cannabis, or synthetic compounds, usually having affinity for and activity at cannabinoid receptors. | THC, CBD, CP55,940, WIN55,212-2, HU210, nabilone |
| Phytocannabinoid | A cannabinoid found in cannabis plants or purified/extracted from plant material | THC, CBD |
| Endocannabinoid | An endogenous ligand found in the body of humans and other animals and which has affinity for, and activity at, cannabinoid receptors | Anandamide, 2-AG |
| Modulators that decrease endocannabinoid system activity | Directly block cannabinoid receptors or reduce signalling indirectly via impeding action of endogenous ligand through actions at a distinct site | Cannabinoid receptor antagonists (rimonabant [SR141716A], AM251, SR144528, AM630), negative allosteric modulators (PSNCBAM-1), DAGL inhibitors (RHC80267) |
| Modulators that increase or enhance endocannabinoid system activity | In addition to individual phytocannabinoids, cannabis-derived or cannabis-based medicines, and cannabis extracts, other pharmacological approaches under development for manipulation of the endocannabinoid system include selective synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, inhibitors of the catabolism (e.g. fatty acid amide hydrolase [FAAH] inhibitors), transport (e.g. fatty acid binding protein [FABP] inhibitors) or reuptake of endocannabinoids, or positive allosteric modulators of cannabinoid receptor signalling. | FAAH inhibitors (PF-04457845, URB597, URB937), Anandamide transport inhibitors (AM404, VDM11), MGL inhibitors (URB602, JZL184, MJN110), Positive allosteric modulators of the CB1 receptor (ZCZ011, GAT211) |
CBD: cannabidiol; DAGL: Diacylglycerol lipase; FABP: fatty acid binding protein; THC: Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol; 2-AG: 2-arachidonoyl glycerol; MGL: monoacylglycerol lipase.