Quote Originally Posted by tonyp
i dont believe removing a carboxyl group from marijuana would have any affect. I'm trying to think of how you would even do it???

you can weaken a polar carboxyl (hydrogen, for that matter) bond with ethers or alcohols, but you'd obviously ruin your marijuana. not to mention, it has to be done in the vapor phase (i think).

stick with putting it in your pipe and smoking it.
the weed, specially when its fresh, recently harvested, have great amounts of THCA (tetrahydrocannabinoic acid), which is inactive. with the passing of time, or by the process of curing, it slowly releases CO2, turning into THC. the decarboxylation we do is just to acelerate this process, heating the weed at a suitable temperature, to help this reaction to occur fast, and thus increase (sometimes dramatically) the amount of THC in the weed.

more detailed references of the cannabinoids chemistry can be found in:

Robert A. Nelson: Hemp Husbandry ~ Cannabinoid Chemistry (Ch 6)