Strong cannabis could help prevent coronavirus say some scientists
Could Strong cannabis help to help prevent coronavirus?
The New York Post published an article to this effect last week.
Here’s the lowdown…
In Canada a group of scientists believe that they may have found strong cannabis strains that could help both prevent and treat coronavirus.
A study done in April at University of Lethbridge revealed that up to 13 cannabis plants high in CBD seemed to affect the ACE2 pathways the bug uses to gain access to our bodies.
One of the researchers, Olga Kovalchuk, told CTV News “We were totally stunned at first, and then we were really happy.”
The results have been printed in online journal Preprints, so this is not some cockeyed story of hope.
Well, there is a lot of hope but this testing is the real deal.
The journal indicates that hemp extracts high in CBD may help block proteins that provide a “gateway” for COVID-19 to access our system.
Igor Kovalchuk (Olga’s husband) suggested to CTV that the strong cannabis strains could reduce the coronavirus’ entry points by as much as 70 percent.
More research on strong cannabis strains needed
Naturally, this is still very much in the research stage but they are positive about the results so far, hoping that the cannabis could “become a useful and safe addition to the treatment of COVID-19 as an adjunct therapy.”
Spoiler alert!
The study suggests that only a small handful of more than 800 Sativa varieties could prove effective.
Olga told CTV, “the key thing is not that any cannabis you would pick up at the store will do the trick.”
Also, the strains that seemed to help are low in THC but high in anti-inflammatory CBD so getting high in the name of coronavirus prevention is not going to fly. J
It should also be noted that the study has not yet undergone a peer review so this could take a while.
Nonetheless, the study was carried out in partnership with Pathway Rx, a cannabis therapy research company, and Swysh Inc., a cannabinoid-based research company so there is backing to push for more action on this.
For progress on the possibility of these strong cannabis strains helping they will need more funding but would we not all prefer this to a vaccine?
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