The MCPH glossary explains unfamiliar medical-cannabis terms from patient guides, laboratory reports, dispensing labels and online content. It clarifies what a word describes, then connects it to the relevant evidence pages.
The UK Medical Cannabis Glossary is arranged A–Z. Each entry identifies the term, and the linked reference pages add the evidence or clinical context where it is available.
Types of medical-cannabis terms
Some terms describe a compound, such as THC, CBD, CBG or CBN. Others describe plant compounds such as myrcene or limonene. Some describe evidence, including randomised trial, observational study and laboratory study. Others describe medicines or the prescribing process. The category matters because a composition term and a clinical outcome are not the same thing.
The cannabinoid reference links to the eight MCPH cannabinoid pages, including THC, CBD, CBG, CBN and CBC. The terpene reference links to the 21 current entity pages.
Evidence design and study type
A plant-chemistry study can show what cannabis makes. A cell or receptor experiment can show what happened in a laboratory model. An animal study can report results in that model. A human clinical study can address a defined preparation, population and outcome. These designs answer different questions.
For example, cannabis plant research has identified terpene synthases involved in producing compounds including myrcene, limonene and pinene. That is evidence about plant chemistry, not a prediction that a terpene-labelled product will change sleep, pain, mood or impairment. The individual terpene pages state this distinction plainly.
Labels, composition and conclusions
A cannabinoid or terpene figure on a report identifies what was measured in that batch. It does not, by itself, establish benefit, safety, suitability, interaction risk, treatment outcome, driving status or legal clearance. The same caution applies to phrases such as “full spectrum”, “balanced” or “entourage effect”.
If a claim points to a study, look for the preparation, population and outcome. A result from purified CBD in a particular epilepsy trial is not evidence for every CBD product. A controlled oral THC/CBD experiment in healthy adults is not a general ratio rule. CBD versus THC in prescription context and THC:CBD ratios explained show how to keep those boundaries intact.
Questions about a prescribed medicine
The glossary can clarify a term before a discussion about a prescribed medicine. For a specific prescription, the exact dispensing information and clinical team remain the relevant sources.
The terpene explainer, entourage-effect explainer and ECS introduction are useful next reads when those terms appear.
Sources
- Terpene synthases from Cannabis sativa (PMID 28355238); plant-chemistry study of terpene identity and biosynthesis, not patient outcomes.
- Oral THC when coadministered with CBD (PMID 36780161); randomised double-blind crossover study in 18 healthy adults using specified oral extracts, not a universal ratio rule.
- Trial of Cannabidiol for Drug-Resistant Seizures in the Dravet Syndrome (PMID 28538134); randomised trial of purified CBD in a defined epilepsy population, not general CBD-product evidence.
- Medical cannabis (NHS); general UK context, not individual product-choice guidance.
