How many different body systems can you name off the top of your head? The nervous system? The cardiovascular system? The digestive system? You can probably think of quite a few. Whether your list is long or short, it very likely didn’t include the endocannabinoid system. Unlike most other major bodily systems, the endocannabinoid system, or ECS for short, was discovered very recently. In fact, scientists didn’t know it existed until the early 1990s when they stumbled upon it by accident while studying the effects cannabis has on the body. However, despite our limited knowledge of this system, researchers...

Cannabis used to be quite the mystery. A hundred years ago, all scientists really knew was that cannabis plants produced chemicals which interacted with our bodies in strange, sometimes unpleasant ways. Over the years, however, researchers have been devoting more and more time to the study of cannabis and the way it interacts with humans and animals. During their research, they found that cannabis produces more than 100 chemical compounds called “cannabinoids.” They found that these cannabinoids are able to cause changes in the body due to their interactions with a previously undiscovered body system called the endocannabinoid system...