There are now legal medical cannabis programs in
18 states plus
Washington, DC, with
pot fully legal for adults in two other states.
Ironically, however, the actual healing power of the plant has barely
been tapped. Smoking marijuana with
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), or
better, vaporizing it (using a device to bake the plant material and
inhale the active ingredients), has an indisputably palliative effect
and can be medically useful for pain relief, calming and appetite
stimulation. It already has confirmed benefits against
glaucoma,
epilepsy and other specific diseases and disorders. It also gets people
high. THC triggers cannabinoid receptors in the brain and this produces
the sensation of being stoned. These receptors are found in the parts of
the brain linked to pleasure, memory, concentration, and time
perception.
But, based mostly on research overseas there is an
increasing consensus that the medicinal benefits of psychoactive THC
pale in comparison to the non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD) from the
leaves of the same plant--raw and unheated. Depending on the strain,
some plants are high in CBD but also contain a lesser amount of THC
which is said to enhance the healing potentiality. CBD does not make
people feel “stoned” and actually counters some of the effects of THC
(for example, suppressing the appetite vs. stimulating it). CBD is
beginning to be recognized by researchers at mainstream medical
institutions around the world as a potentially very powerful weapon
against cancer.
Researchers Sean D. McAllister
and Pierre Desprez, who conducted studies of CBD's effect on cancer
cells for California Pacific Medical Center, suggest that these
non-psychoactive compounds from the cannabis plant might, in short
order, render chemotherapy and radiation distant second and third
options for cancer patients. Based on a more recent study, McAllister
and Desprez feel that CBD's "could stop breast cancer from spreading."
Dr.
Donald Abrams, a cancer specialist and professor of integrative
medicine at UCSF, conducted early trials involving THC medical cannabis,
and now he is excited about the powerful impacts of CBD on cancer
cells. The National Cancer Institute was busy researching this in the
1970s, Abrams explains, but restrictions on the use of cannabis for
research in the United States resulted in most of the research on this
subject disappearing in the U.S., and being picked up in other
countries, such as Israel, Spain and Italy. He says existing studies
point to a remarkable ability of CBD to arrest cancer cell division,
cell migration, metastasis, and invasiveness.
Other studies point to CBD as having great promise as a defense against Alzheimer’s disease. In a 2006 study published in Molecular Pharmaceutics,
a team of University of Connecticut researchers reported that cannabis
“could be considerably better at suppressing the abnormal clumping of
malformed proteins that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease than any
currently approved prescription.” The research team predicted that
cannabinoid-based medications "will be the new breakout medicine
treatments of the near future.”
Medical cannabis has a long
history of use, starting in India, and then in China and the Middle East
some 6,000 years ago. It came to the West in the 1800s, where it was
listed in the U.S. Pharmacopeia until the 1930s. Used for over 100
ailments, cannabis was a favorite of our grandparents for cough
remedies, analgesics, and tonics and was available over the counter at
every local drugstore as well as companies such as Sears, Roebuck and
Co. Banned in 1937 via the
Marijuana Tax Act as part of a politically
and racially driven prohibition craze, it was gradually removed from the
pharmacopeia and research was discouraged and later prohibited via drug
scheduling. The FBI linked the herb with insanity and claimed a direct
correlation between cannabis and violence, and even death, especially
when used by people of color.
Currently, science increasingly
recognizes the role that cannabinoids play in almost every major life
function in the human body. It wasn't until 1990 that endocannabinoids,
produced by the human body, were discovered to act as a bio-regulatory
mechanism for most human life processes and have receptors sites
throughout the human body. CB2 receptors are found almost exclusively in
the immune system, with the greatest density in the spleen. These CB2
receptors appear to be responsible for the anti-inflammatory and other
newly recognized and very significant therapeutic effects of cannabis.
Cannabis
medicine has distinct advantages. CBD, as well as THC, can be given in
massive doses with no side effects. In fact, it has performed very
effectively as an anti-psychotic when given in high doses. CBD
selectively targets and destroys tumor cells while leaving normal
healthy cells unmolested. On the other hand, chemotherapy and radiation
are highly toxic and indiscriminately injure healthy cells in the brain
and the body. Industrial hemp is often high in healing CBD and very low
in THC. Hemp CBD is a waste product -- it's thrown out by the ton every
year when it could easily be harvested for tumor shrinking.
Medical
cannabis farm Tikun Olam in Israel has been developing a strain of
cannabis that is high in CBD (15.8%) but very low in THC (1%). This new
strain is called Avidekel and seems to have the highest CBD to THC ratio
of any other variant strain. Zack Klein of Tikun Olam told Reuters:
“Sometimes the high is not always what is needed. Sometimes it is an
unwanted side effect. For some of the people it’s not even pleasant.”
The
THC industry and its users worry that once CBD medicine grows in
popularity, the medical badge might be torn from the sticky buds that
makes being "stoned" possible. Aside from THC's significant medical
benefits, surely its ability to make people feel happier and less
stressed should not be considered without therapeutic value. More
likely, all options will thrive, and 1,000 cannabis flowers will
blossom: Indica, Sativa, CBD + THC, CBD Only, etc.
Meanwhile,
it's useful to note that since 2003, the U.S. federal government has
held a "medical patent" for the marketing of cannabinoids as
antioxidants or neuroprotective agents. The patent states that
cannabinoids are "useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide
variety of oxidation associated diseases such as inflammatory and
autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular
application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological
damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the
treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease,
Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia."
However,
stoners may have it all wrong, medically speaking. It is unlikely a
person can get a sufficient level of cannabidiol (pronounced
kan-nəbə-dī'-ˌȯl) from smoking the raw plant to impact diseases like
cancer in a curative manner, says Desprez. The marijuana plant offers
many uses, but it may come as a surprise to most users that you have to
choose early in a plant's life if you want it to make you high or to
heal you. Research suggests that cannabis is most beneficial when the
whole spectrum of cannabinoids are represented, including some THC. It
is the ratio of cannabinoids in a specific strain of cannabis that most
determines its therapeutic potential. Juicing the cannabis leaves raw,
along with some carrots or other green veggies, has proven very
beneficial as it involves the ingestion of the acid form of
cannabinoids, which are non-psychoactive (even the THC). Cannabis oil
also has enthusiastic fans who claim it has cured their cancers.
In
India there are still large numbers of people who partake in an ancient
practice of having a fresh raw cannabis drink called "Thandai" in
which fresh cannabis leaves are made into a paste along with almonds,
milk and sugar. This tasty drink is often consumed at religious
festivals, and in some cities the government maintains distribution
points for cannabis. A rolled sweet ball with similar ingredients is
called "Bhang," familiar for over a century to many Western seekers
walking the ghats of sacred Banaras.
Cannabis
edibles in the West are emerging as one of the fastest growing new
sectors of the food industry. Dispensaries in 18 states offer such
goodies as ice cream, cough drops, peanut butter, honey, saliva tea, and
myriad baked goods and savory snacks--all dosed with THC. Given the
huge potential market for non-psychoactive cannabis, the introduction of
CBD-rich medicine at the dispensary level has been surprisingly
sluggish. Owners have been reluctant to stock CBD-rich strains or
edibles because their present customers are seeking —or are not adverse
to— cannabis that provides euphoria or sedation. THC content is a known
seller. Once the medical benefits of non-psychoactive cannabis become
more widely known, one can only imagine the variety and volume of
CBD-rich foods that will rush to market.
Smoking,
as opposed to vaporization, may be the least effective method of using
cannabis as a medicine. But many raw cannabis users are convinced that
CBD is the source of medical miracles. Restrictions on research have
impacted the accuracy with which we can prescribe cannabis and determine
the most effective and least harmful ways to utilize its benefits.
Perhaps in the very near future, instead of smoking cannabis to reduce
nausea from chemotherapy, cancer patients will be consuming raw
non-psychoactive cannabis, and be healed without having to suffer the
additional damage of radiation and chemotherapy at all.
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