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Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids

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Hannah Phillips
Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids

The name "cannabis" and its widespread usage as a recreational substance will be recognizable to most people. This is because cannabis contains a group of chemicals known as cannabinoids, some of which have psychoactive properties when consumed. 1 Cannabinoids have been used in medicine from ancient times in numerous regions of the globe, including China and India, to cure illnesses such as asthma, malaria, neuralgias, and convulsions, according to anecdotal evidence. 2,3 Cannabis tincture (an ethanolic extract of cannabis) was widely used in Europe and the United States in the nineteenth century to cure a number of ailments, including infant convulsions, tetanus, cholera, and rabies. However, throughout the early part of the twentieth century, these tinctures fell out of favor because producing a formulation with a consistent dosage proved too difficult. 1


However, scientific interest in cannabinoids sparked in the 1990s, and the effects of these compounds were determined to be related to particular cellular receptors, leading to the discovery that humans manufacture our own endogenous cannabinoids, known as endocannabinoids. We now have synthetic counterparts of both of these, as well as the plant-based ones (phytocannabinoids). To have 420 evaluations completed follow the link.




With their anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, serious medical research is being conducted to determine the effects of cannabinoids in a variety of diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD), and multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as anorexia, irritable bowel syndrome, and several cancers.




1 Some cannabis drugs have previously been licensed for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, anorexia, cancer-related pain, and MS-related stiffness and pain.




Non-psychotropic cannabinoids, known as cannabidiol (CBD), produced from the hemp plant (a species in the same family as cannabis), have arrived in the health and wellness market in recent years, coinciding with similar breakthroughs in medicine. To take advantage of CBD's antioxidant and pain-relieving properties, it's now available in a wide range of over-the-counter products from highstreet pharmacies (usually for people over the age of 18), including food supplements in a variety of formulations (e.g., capsules, sprays, and drops); massage gels and rubs; and lip balms.5




The cannabinoid system seems to be involved in a broad variety of physiological activities, and we are just now beginning to learn about cannabinoids' potential medicinal and health advantages. With more study being done in this area, the future seems bright!

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