Medical research confirms that Cannabis sativa has been used medicinally for thousands of years, yet its prominence arose from use in its marijuana or ganja form. Despite the controversies surrounding smoking marijuana—it is illegal in most countries—scientists have continued to look at its properties and the impact on the human system.
Over the past four decades, research has come up with many breakthrough findings, starting when the primary active ingredient of cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was identified in the sixties, and then in 1990 when the first THC receptor in the brain was discovered.
One of the lecturers in the Department of Pre-Clinical Sciences at UWI St. Augustine, Dr Farid Youssef, and Andrew Irving of the Neurosciences Institute at the University of Dundee, recently presented a review of some of the latest developments in cannabis research, including the identification of at least five endogenous cannabinoid neurotransmitters in the body. These endocannabinoids are widely distributed and affect processes such as learning and memory, regulation of appetite, immune function, and reward pathways, for example.
“Numerous stereotypes associated with cannabis, in addition to the well known adverse health consequence associated with chronic smoking of cannabis, does little to help sell the concept of cannabis as a substance with enormous therapeutic potential. Recent advances in our understanding of the actions of cannabis and related ligands on the body suggest that now is a good time to change public opinion,” they assert.
In our special focus on cannabis and its agency on the human mind and body, Dr Youssef explains some of the research and its potential effects, while psychiatrist Professor Gerard Hutchinson discusses how some people are genetically more inclined to psychotic reactions, and psychiatrist Dr Sandra Reid reviews the debate on whether marijuana should be legalised.
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