An article was published in Forbes earlier this month about a study from Oregon State showing cannabis to be a possible preventative of Covid-19.
According to research done by Oregon State’s Global Hemp Innovation Center, a pair of cannabinoid acids bind to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, blocking a critical step in the process that the virus uses to infect people. The main drawback of this study is that it was done in a petri dish, with very high amounts of acidic cannabinoids.
Richard Van Breemen and collaborators, including scientists at Oregon Health & Science University, found that a pair of cannabinoid acids bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, blocking a critical step in the process the virus uses to infect people.
The compounds are cannabigerolic acid, or CBGA, and cannabidiolic acid, CBDA, and the spike protein is the same drug target used in COVID-19 vaccines and antibody therapy. A drug target is any molecule critical to the process a disease follows, meaning its disruption can thwart infection or disease progression.
It is still unknown how beneficial this will be in the human body, and in what consumable doses will have this effect. Many are hopeful that this is a positive sign of the public taking notice of the myriad of medicinal uses of the cannabis plant, but it’s definitely not conclusive.
This is an important topic and I want to have the facts straight, so I am linking an article that goes into more detail. It includes a video with Dr. Dustin Sulak, a general practitioner, medical cannabis expert and leading voice in using cannabis for health talking about Covid and cannabis.
I recently attended a webinar Dr. Sulak hosted where this topic was discussed. He made it clear that there are most likely many other compounds in cannabis that are beneficial against the spike protein of Covid-19, but the regulations the FDA has regarding using THC in research strongly limits both the permission and funding for such research, and the availability of quality THC products to use in that research. The comments made by attendees of the webinar, many whom are doctors and caregivers, indicated their experience with patients and in some cases, themselves, indicated that cannabis use had helped many minimize their Covid-19 symptoms.
This is a topic that is worthy of more research. It appears Covid-19 will be with us for a long time. Having a natural alternative that has so many additional benefits for the human body is a real boon to mankind at this point in history.