SheWasLvL18
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2017
- Messages
- 814
Hey guys! Time for a rant about semantics so bear with me. I just posted a very similar and shorter response that is very similar to the content of this post, but I realized I hadn't seen it mention on Bluelight before so I figured I would create a thread to get your opinions on this as it has been a topic in some circles, as of late.
The terms indica and sativa are known by pretty much any consumer of cannabis and for some they live by one or the other, possibly due to perceived fear, others just because they believe they only like the effects brought on by their favored cultivar (LOL another debate for later is strain vs. strand vs. cultivar). For those who are not familiar, indica strains are associated with a calmer, body high (think tv and video games) while sativas are associated with much more energetic, "racier", more cerebral/heady highs (proponents say they like the mood boosts and extra creativity these strains can provide), however, many say that sativa strains can give them anxiety and others will say indicas make them lazy, or they'll find some other reason for not using all available options.
Now what if I told you that the terms Sativa and Indica mean nothing, in fact purchasing off just these factors can lead to potentially unpleasant experiences for someones who is trying to avoid certain effects, Ill go into more detail in a moment. The reason these terms mean nothing to the consumer is simple, patterns of physical growth do not create the "high" produced by cannabis. What does create the high is a complex mix of cannabinoids, not just THC (I believe they've found about 114 or so cannabinoids), terpenes (hydrocarbons that are found in many plants and fruit, such as limonene, the key flavor in citrus fruits, also found in some cannabis strains.), and other newly discovered, but not fully understood bioactive compounds. The reason each high is different is that each cultivar/strain has a different ratio of these compounds which will produce a unique effect (this is called the Entourage Effect). So knowing what profile is best for your desired results is important, though I understand options is not something a vast majority of people have access too.
The terms indica and sativa are really only useful to someone growing cannabis as it really on describes how the plant will grow, things like height, time till harvest, and potential yields. Plants determined to be indica tend to be bushier (some say short, but I've seen some truly massive indicas, easily larger than myself), produce larger yields, have shorter harvest cycles, and have fatter leaves (probably the iconic pot leaf), while sativas tend to be lankier, usually taller (can be trained otherwise), lower yielding, take longer to harvest, and have thinner leaves. However, as of now we have not been able to correlate these physical growth patterns with the production of specific ratios of cannabinoids, terpenes, and biomolecules, in fact many growers can attest to having a strain that shows all the signs of an indica/sativa during growing stages, but produces effects opposite to what is expected, for example, a strain can be growing and look like an indica, but after analysis will reveal high THC content, high limonene content, low CBD/CBG content, all the markings of a cerebral high, or what would traditionally be a sativa according to common belief.
The reason I mention that this can be misleading or potentially harmful, is because to someone who does not know that cannabinoid/terpene profiles are more important than labels like "indica" or "sativa", they may buy a product expecting anxiety relief due to the label or what they were told and get a product that produces a super cerebral head high that causes them to have panic attacks. If you can look up some of the common terpenes and cannabinoids and the effects they have, information on these should be very easy to find, and purchase based on these metrics if possible. Remember all weed today is pretty much a hybridized bastard of its ancestor, there really are no true "land races" left or pure sativa/hybrid cultivars.
Perhaps before human cultivation and co-evolution sativa and indica strains produced distinct profiles, but that's just speculation and pretty much all weed today is a hybrid in some form. Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant, I hope you guys have some input. Does indica/sativa mean anything to you? Have you found the stereotypes to be true? To be honest I still find myself using the terms as a lot of the times they do seem to be accurate, but with the advances in breeding it seems like things are moving to a whole new level beyond just sativa and indica IMO. Also I urge you to, if possible, explore different profiles and I promise you will find strains on both sides of the aisle that will work for you, not all "sativas" are anxiety bombs and not all "indicas" are going to couch lock you.
The terms indica and sativa are known by pretty much any consumer of cannabis and for some they live by one or the other, possibly due to perceived fear, others just because they believe they only like the effects brought on by their favored cultivar (LOL another debate for later is strain vs. strand vs. cultivar). For those who are not familiar, indica strains are associated with a calmer, body high (think tv and video games) while sativas are associated with much more energetic, "racier", more cerebral/heady highs (proponents say they like the mood boosts and extra creativity these strains can provide), however, many say that sativa strains can give them anxiety and others will say indicas make them lazy, or they'll find some other reason for not using all available options.
Now what if I told you that the terms Sativa and Indica mean nothing, in fact purchasing off just these factors can lead to potentially unpleasant experiences for someones who is trying to avoid certain effects, Ill go into more detail in a moment. The reason these terms mean nothing to the consumer is simple, patterns of physical growth do not create the "high" produced by cannabis. What does create the high is a complex mix of cannabinoids, not just THC (I believe they've found about 114 or so cannabinoids), terpenes (hydrocarbons that are found in many plants and fruit, such as limonene, the key flavor in citrus fruits, also found in some cannabis strains.), and other newly discovered, but not fully understood bioactive compounds. The reason each high is different is that each cultivar/strain has a different ratio of these compounds which will produce a unique effect (this is called the Entourage Effect). So knowing what profile is best for your desired results is important, though I understand options is not something a vast majority of people have access too.
The terms indica and sativa are really only useful to someone growing cannabis as it really on describes how the plant will grow, things like height, time till harvest, and potential yields. Plants determined to be indica tend to be bushier (some say short, but I've seen some truly massive indicas, easily larger than myself), produce larger yields, have shorter harvest cycles, and have fatter leaves (probably the iconic pot leaf), while sativas tend to be lankier, usually taller (can be trained otherwise), lower yielding, take longer to harvest, and have thinner leaves. However, as of now we have not been able to correlate these physical growth patterns with the production of specific ratios of cannabinoids, terpenes, and biomolecules, in fact many growers can attest to having a strain that shows all the signs of an indica/sativa during growing stages, but produces effects opposite to what is expected, for example, a strain can be growing and look like an indica, but after analysis will reveal high THC content, high limonene content, low CBD/CBG content, all the markings of a cerebral high, or what would traditionally be a sativa according to common belief.
The reason I mention that this can be misleading or potentially harmful, is because to someone who does not know that cannabinoid/terpene profiles are more important than labels like "indica" or "sativa", they may buy a product expecting anxiety relief due to the label or what they were told and get a product that produces a super cerebral head high that causes them to have panic attacks. If you can look up some of the common terpenes and cannabinoids and the effects they have, information on these should be very easy to find, and purchase based on these metrics if possible. Remember all weed today is pretty much a hybridized bastard of its ancestor, there really are no true "land races" left or pure sativa/hybrid cultivars.
Perhaps before human cultivation and co-evolution sativa and indica strains produced distinct profiles, but that's just speculation and pretty much all weed today is a hybrid in some form. Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant, I hope you guys have some input. Does indica/sativa mean anything to you? Have you found the stereotypes to be true? To be honest I still find myself using the terms as a lot of the times they do seem to be accurate, but with the advances in breeding it seems like things are moving to a whole new level beyond just sativa and indica IMO. Also I urge you to, if possible, explore different profiles and I promise you will find strains on both sides of the aisle that will work for you, not all "sativas" are anxiety bombs and not all "indicas" are going to couch lock you.
Last edited:
