Described widely as the “Master Regulatory System of the Body,” the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) is an elegant organization of receptors, transmitters, and enzymes that maintain homeostasis in the human body. As researchers focus on studying the core ECS, Wana Brands’ VP of Innovation Mike Hennesy suggests that there are vast opportunities for research, greater understanding, and progress to be made in new formulations and product development within the larger picture of the ECS biological system – what is called by some, “the Endocannabinoidome.” Hennesy argues that viewing the ECS as an expansive integrated component of the entire body can enable researchers to refocus on a much larger picture of how the ECS is intrinsically involved with so many other systems of the body. This approach can expand the scope and outcomes of traditional cannabis research and may propel forward the development of new cannabis medicines and products – as well as help to understand the ECS as an expansive integrated system of the entire body outside of its purpose as a separate system. While not a fully adopted idea of the ECS research community, and certainly not the cannabis industry, the “Endocannabinoidome” offers food for thought that broadens the ECS discussion.

Learning Objectives:

• A basic understanding of the Endocannabinoid System and how it functions in the human body
• How the currently known components of the ECS may be just the proverbial “tip of the iceberg”
• How endocannabinoids directly and indirectly interact with many other receptors and ion channels in the human body beyond the known cannabinoid receptors
• The ways in which commonly known cannabinoids like CBD, CBG, THCV and others interact with specific receptors outside of the ECS
• The potential roles of terpenes and flavonoids in the expanded Endocannabioidome world