All I'll say is go spend a day picking hops without gloves.

There are a large number of cannabinoids at play, some clearly (as in observably and demonstrably) are bioactive in their natural, unheated form.

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None of which is said to endorse the other theory. Just to point out that claiming heat is required is incorrect.

The farm bill makes 'hemp' anything with below 0.3% THC legal. For this reason, we have a LOT of testing on the THC content of cannabis, since it is required to sell and manufacture. As it turns out, naturally cannabis quite commonly has >0.3% THC even before heating or activation of THCa.

Any human-like animal with our receptors eating a large amount would get high as fuck, cooked or not. A ruminant eating pounds of the stuff raw, would not be that different from a human consuming an ounce of baked pot.

This was killed in the recent budget bill: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/13/congress-thc-hemp-ban.html

Both degrade into actives over time or exposure to air/sun/warmth, and then into CBN, which is itself active.