Australian_Science_Illustrated_Issue_52_2017

scienceillustrated.com.au | 65

Cannabis relieves

many diseases

More ill people use cannabis,

though scientists can still only

document a fraction of the effects

of the plant.

Reduces nausea in patients, who are

undergoing chemotherapy.

Eases chronic pain, such as in

patients with arthritis.

Relieves multiple sclerosis, so

patients develop fewer muscle cramps.

Improves sleep in patients with many

different diseases.

Improves the appetite of elderly and

undernourished people.

Relieves anxiety, making life easier.

Counteracts Tourette syndrome,

so patients experience fewer tics.

Efficient against post-traumatic

stress by making memories less anxiety-

provoking.

Counteracts glaucoma by reducing

the harmful pressure in the eye.

Improves Alzheimer's by dissolving

damaging protein lumps in the brain.

Eases epilepsy by reducing the

number of severe convulsive fits.

Slows down the growth of cancer

tumours, so they develop more slowly.

level of infection in the body and the way in
which the immune system reacts to a long
series of diseases.

RECEPTOR APPEARANCE REVEALED
However, the cannabis receptors also exist in
other body tissue, regulating the way in which
the intestines work and how fast the heart
beats. Consequently, it is like firing at random,
when patients try to dampen chronic pain in
their backs by means of cannabis.
This is also the reason why it caused a
stir among scientists throughout the world
last year, when two groups revealed the
exact make-up of the CB1 receptor. They
can now very accurately see how both the
body’s natural substances and THC bind to
the receptor.
The discovery marks a new era in
cannabis-based drugs, because scientists
will now be better at customising highly
focused drugs, which have the same
beneficial medical effect as THC, but do not
cause unpleasant side effects, be it a drug
with ingredients which only bind to the CB2
receptors of the body without activating the
CB1 receptors of the brain, or similar. With
the detailed image of the receptor, scientists

hope to be able to find out why – in spite of

its similarity with THC – cannabidiol does not

bind to the cannabis receptors of the body,

but rather affects body cells via very

different, still unknown mechanisms.

47 MILLION COULD BE CURED

The list of severe diseases which can be

treated with cannabis is getting ever longer,

and if THC proves to have the same curative

effect on human brain cells affected by

dementia as the ingredient has in the lab, the

cannabis plant may include the cure against

one of the major plagues of our time. More

than forty-seven million people live with

dementia today, and the number is expected

to quadruple before 2050.

The new research results have already

changed the sceptical attitude towards the

cannabis plant otherwise taken up by the

authorities of many countries.

In the near future, it looks as if cannabis

must no longer be traded secretly, so pills,

mixtures, and food including THC and

cannabidiol could fill the shelves of

pharmacies, nursery homes, and the homes

of sick and elderly people throughout the

world. It's a heck of a drug!

In an Israeli

nursing home

near Rehovot,

people smoke

marihuana, etc.,

in order to

relieve pain.

IMAGO STOCK/ALL OVER

DOCUMENTED EFFECT

PROMISING RESULTS

SCIENTISTS ARE

DOCUMENTING THE EFFECT