Cannabeginners: CBN Explained

While often referred to as the “most potent cannabinoid for sleep,” the reality of cannabinol (CBN) is much more complex. This brief explainer will give you information you need to know to separate the facts from marketing fiction about the first cannabinoid to ever be identified and isolated.

How Is CBN Made?

Let’s go into a brief cannabis chemistry lesson to better understand how CBN is made. In the living plant, CBN is a very rare cannabinoid, present only in trace amounts. Once the plant is harvested and begins to dry and cure, a conversion clock is started, turning all the THCa into THC, and further turning THC into CBN. This conversion is caused by a chemical process known as decarboxylation, a process all edible makers know well. Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction where a carbon atom is removed from the carbon chain attached to the THCa molecule releasing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and causing that THCa to become THC; the released CO₂ is why the steam coming off a batch of cannabutter smells so strongly. 

You can further decarboxylate THC into CBN through the same/a similar process of applying heat. Beyond using heat, decarboxylation can be caused by exposure to UV light (the sun), exposure to oxygen, or just the passage of time. 

How Does CBN Interact With Your Body?

Research has shown that the cannabinoid is a weak psychoactive compound, presumably more psychoactive than CBD but less than THC, and there are anecdotal reports of people feeling “high” from using CBN. The cannabinoid has “been consistently reported to be a weak CB₁ agonist,” meaning it could result in feelings of “highness,” just like THC (but to a lesser degree). Results have been mixed in regards to how strong of an effect CBN has at the CB2 receptor. Beyond the endocannabinoid system, like CBD, CBN interacts with different TRP channels, and is a “potent agonist of TRPA1 and antagonist of TPRM8 channels.”

CBN and Sleep: A Mixed Bag

Many articles, going back nearly a decade, including former articles by this author, note the sedating effects of CBN, but they all cite the same source, Steephill Labs. Unfortunately, Steephill “is in the process of restructuring its business” and their website is down, but after digging into the Internet Archive, it is clear that sourcing them was questionable in the first place, as their website did not cite a study to back up their claims. I cited them in my 2014 article as research on CBN was very limited at the time, and since then, more research has been done, and it casts some doubt on CBN as a sleep aid.

According to a 2021 literature review “research investigating the effects of CBN is dated and limited,” furthermore, “Studies specifically assessing subjective effects associated with sleep, such as sedation or fatigue, are rare.” The study authors concluded that, “There is insufficient published evidence to support sleep-related claims.” This study came on the heels of a 2020 study looking at CBN’s impacts on Zebrafish larvae, which “showed that CBN acts both as a stimulant and a sedative.”

Let’s briefly look at some of that “dated and limited” research, most of which came out in the 1970s and 1980s, before modern testing and surveying methods were developed. In one 1975 study, a very small handful of volunteers were given placebos or doses of cannabinoids, then given a survey to measure their reaction to drugs. They found that “volunteers reported feeling drugged, drunk, dizzy, and drowsy under the delta9-THC condition, but not under the CBN condition,” meaning CBN did not produce feelings of drowsiness on its own. When used with THC, they found that CBN made the drowsing effects of THC more intense. Another 1975 study, appears to contradict those findings, noting “The combination of THC with CBN produced no detectable changes in the quality, intensity, or duration of the effects of THC alone.” Clearly, even that dated research didn’t uniformly say the cannabinoid was beneficial for sleep. 

What This Cannabinoid Can Be Used For

Now that we have addressed the elephant in the room — that CBN may not be as beneficial for sleep as many of us have heard — let’s discuss the research that is less conflicted. It is important to note that much of the research on CBN, like many studies on cannabinoids, was done on animals not people, and it goes without saying, that people are not the same as animals (though there are *some* similarities).

Research has shown that the cannabinoid: can delay the onset of ALS by “more than two weeks,” shows potent activity against a variety of MRSA strains, has analgesic (pain relieving) properties similar to THC, can stimulate appetite to a lesser degree than THC, can help combat the growth of cancer cells, and can be beneficial to sufferers of psoriasis. 

CBN is a poorly studied and relatively rare cannabinoid that is seeing more interest and research in recent years, much of it showing some medical benefits for a wide range of conditions. The benefits of CBN seem to have a lot of overlap with THC, which makes some sense considering CBN is derived from THC, but without the same level of psychoactivity. That means the cannabinoid could be useful for people who want to use THC but with less of a high.