There was a time when cannabis ‛ pot’ looked like a criminal menace, its effects cast as demonic manifestations of bad omen. The reality is much less dramatic, says Stephen Ziliak, director of the University of Toronto’s Cannabis Studies Institute. THC is responsible for marijuana’ s highest known euphoria and the perceptual effects associated with the state’ of heightened consciousness that is associated with the high. Most studies conducted on marijuana use and the associated issues’ have come out of the United States, where in addition to being a major producer of the plant, marijuana’ s recreational use has been legal for at least 35 years. “U.S. public health agencies think that if you don’t have an obvious impairment on a daily basis, it shouldn’t be illegal,” says Ziliak. In Canada, things have been different. Until 2000, a medical marijuana law had never been passed in Canada.
A bill introduced in 1997 would have allowed physicians to prescribe and recommend medical cannabis to patients. That was an afterthought, however, compared to the shock of the 1990s when the Conservative government legalized hard drugs in order to fight crime, a move that sent U.S. health professionals into a tailspin of concern about possible side effects. Eventually, the doctors who were pushing for legalization, along with their colleagues in the U.S., worked out a consensus about the most dangerous substances, including marijuana. Though little progress has been made on the medical cannabis front, in the eyes of health officials across the world, the current Canadian effort appears to be more realistic. “We know what the risks are for kids. We know the risks for adults, because we’ve seen it with alcohol, cigarettes and even tobacco. We just haven’t seen them with marijuana,” Ziliak says. So far, the positive health effects of marijuana are only limited to its ability to relieve chronic pain.
One study compared the effects of high-THC cannabis versus a placebo in people who suffered from back pain caused by trauma. The research showed that most patients’ complaints disappeared and they had no longer reported pain to the nurse’s office, according to the British Journal of Psychiatry. The research was funded by the U.K. government in an effort to gain support for the plant. The researchers speculate that the pot may have blocked pain receptors, or perhaps changed the way cannabinoids are processed in the brain. THC may also have altered receptors in a way that made it appear less painful to the brain. Regardless of the reason, however, a 2009 study in the journal Pain found that pain is the only sign in the patient’s chart of any change in effect, as measured by changes in their mood and sleep patterns. They were completely relieved of the pain.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is the lesser-known child of the cannabis sativa plant; its more famous sibling, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the active ingredient in pot that catapults users’ “high.” With roots in Central Asia, the plant is believed to have been first used medicinally or for rituals around 750 B.C., though there are other estimates too. The use of CBD Nationwide is advertised as providing relief for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. It is also marketed to promote sleep. Part of CBD’s popularity is that it purports to be “nonpsychoactive,” and that consumers can reap health benefits from the plant without the high. Let’s check this website at northwellness.ca and why you should buy their CBD products. For students with generalized social anxiety, a four-minute talk, with minimal time to prepare, can be debilitating. Yet a small experiment in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology found that CBD products from CBD Armour seemed to reduce nervousness and cognitive impairment in patients with social anxiety in a simulated public speaking task. A similar version of the previous article would be: What Are the Benefits of CBD? Anxiety, depression and cognitive impairment CBD helps sufferers focus, while avoiding the high.
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