If you’re new to the cannabis world, you’ll hear this referenced all the time. “The entourage effect, the entourage effect…it’s all because of the entourage effect!”

What I’ve found is that people like to reference the entourage effect for all positive outcomes.

Why does the entourage effect matter?

Ok, so what exactly is the entourage effect and why does it matter?

In essence, the entourage effect is the beneficial effect of the whole plant working together. Essentially, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. As soon as I learned what this was referring to, I really wished I had this verbiage in my days consulting for a whole food-based supplement company. We used to explain over and over why a whole food product was better than isolated vitamins. I could have told the practitioner “it was better because of the entourage effect.” Mic drop.

The entourage effect refers to two things: It refers to the essence of the whole plant having a greater result than any one of its components. It also refers to the cannabinoids working together to help each other modulate different receptors, synthesis, uptake, or degradation. For instance, any one of the non-psychotropic cannabinoids could modulate or soften the impact of pure THC by modifying THC’s ability to act on the receptors.

The entourage effect is the whole plant working together to create an outcome. Doesn’t every plant do this? To much extent, yes! If you’re familiar with or have studied the cannabis plant, you’ll know that no other plant affects the body in as many ways. This is the magic of the plant itself. There are records going back 4,700 years that document the medicinal uses of cannabis.