This hub helps patients read product language without getting pulled in by marketing. It is for understanding labels, claims, and background terms, not for choosing or changing a medicine without clinical advice.
What this hub covers
- CBD and THC basics
- terpenes and flavour profiles
- strains versus formulations
- extracts, oils, rosin, and concentrates
- how to spot overstated product claims
What to check before comparing products
Product language can sound precise while still leaving out the details patients need. Before comparing two products, look for:
- THC and CBD content, including whether the strength is clear
- route of use, such as oil, flower, vaporised product, extract, edible, or topical
- likely onset and duration, which can vary by route and patient
- batch, lab testing, contamination, and storage information where available
- interactions, impairment, driving relevance, and other safety warnings
- whether the page is describing a prescribed product, a historic strain, or a non-clinical review
If those basics are missing, the strain name or terpene list will not fill the gap.
Claims to treat carefully
Be cautious with claims that a terpene, strain, extract, or “full-spectrum” product will reliably create a specific effect. Terpenes may be useful descriptive chemistry, but they should not be treated as a simple clinical prediction tool.
Also slow down around potency-led claims, solventless extraction claims, and phrases that imply one route is automatically cleaner, safer, or more medical. Better questions are: what is the product, how is it prescribed, what is known about quality, and what risks matter for this patient?
Read before you compare products
- What are cannabis terpenes?
- How new strains of cannabis are created
- What’s the difference between sativa, indica, and hybrid cannabis strains?
- A history of Chemdawg and Sour Diesel cannabis strains
- Live resin: what it is and how it’s made
- Rosin oil: what patients should know
- Cannabis extracts and UK law: what patients should know
- Medical cannabis oil: what patients should know
- Vaping or smoking cannabis: what patients should know
- What to ask about cannabis extract quality and testing
When to ask a clinician
Ask for clinical advice if a product change could affect side effects, mental health, sleep, driving, work safety, pregnancy, breastfeeding, or other medicines. Ask sooner if you have a history of psychosis, bipolar disorder, severe anxiety, substance dependence, or if you take sedatives, opioids, anticoagulants, antidepressants, seizure medicines, or several regular medicines.
Product details can be useful, but they do not override your care plan. If you are prescribed medical cannabis, do not change dose, route, or product based only on a review or forum comparison.
Strain library
If you came here for strain names and review pages, use the live strain index as background. Strain pages can explain lineage, aroma notes, and reported effects, but they cannot promise symptom improvement or predict side effects for you.
- Strains hub
- Blue Dream cannabis strain review
- Runtz strain notes for patients
- Wedding Cake strain notes for patients
- Green Gelato cannabis strain review information
- Phantom OG cannabis strain review information
Start here
- Medical education hub
- Safety, legal and driving hub
- Access, prescribing and costs hub
- Conditions and symptoms hub
- Trust and governance
How to use it
If a product page sounds more like marketing than medicine, slow down and compare the claim against the evidence. Use medical education for the basics and safety, legal and driving when product details could affect risk.
Next step
When product details start to affect safety, move to the safety hub.
Understanding cannabis cultivars
For detailed, photograph-rich profiles of individual cannabis cultivars — including lineage, terpenes, flavours, and UK archive observations — visit Strains, our sister UK cultivar archive at strains.cc. MCPH focuses on medical context; Strains provides neutral botanical information.
Editorially reviewed by MCPH Editorial Team.
Last editorially reviewed: July 2026. Content updated: see post date above. MCPH provides editorial assurance, not clinical approval — always discuss your specific situation with a qualified clinician.