“Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients develop Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) resulting from hyperactivation of the immune system and cytokine storm, which leads to respiratory and multi-organ failure, and death. Currently, there are no effective treatments against hyperimmune syndrome and ARDS.
We propose that because immune cells express cannabinoid receptors and their agonists are known to exhibit potent anti-inflammatory activity, targeting cannabinoid receptors, and endocannabinoids deserve intense investigation as a novel approach to treat systemic inflammation, cytokine storm, and ARDS in patients with COVID-19.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33240092/
“The fact that cells of the immune system produce endocannabinoids and express both CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors provides unique opportunities into investigating how the cannabinoid system can be engineered to suppress inflammation using both exogenous and endogenous cannabinoids. Because cannabinoids are potent suppressors of inflammation as evidenced by their ability to suppress cytokine storm in animal models, they may serve as novel therapeutic agents to treat cytokine storm and ARDS that are seen in patients with or without COVID-19. There is a dire need for novel anti-inflammatory agents that exert broad spectrum cytokine suppression associated with ARDS considering that currently up to 40% of such patients, including those with COVID-19, die because currently there are no FDA-approved drugs that are highly effective against cytokine storm and ARDS.”
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.589438/full
“With the current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), there is an urgent need for new therapies and prevention strategies that can help curtail disease spread and reduce mortality.
“Objectives: To assess the motivation of cancer survivors to consume medical cannabis and to assess the patterns of use, perceived efficacy, as well as side and adverse effects.
“The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is a deadly disease afflicting millions. The pandemic continues affecting population due to nonavailability of drugs and vaccines. The pathogenesis and complications of infection mainly involve hyperimmune-inflammatory responses. Thus, therapeutic strategies rely on repurposing of drugs aimed at reducing infectivity and inflammation and modulate immunity favourably.
“The increasing legalization of Cannabis for recreational and medicinal purposes in the United States has spurred renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids (CBs) for human disease.
“The ability of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) inflorescence extract to counteract lipid oxidation was studied in stripped linseed oil.
“Cannabis has been used as a medicine for millennia. Prohibition in the mid-20th century precluded early scientific investigation.
“Medical cannabis and individual cannabinoids, such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), are receiving growing attention in both the media and the scientific literature. The Cannabis plant, however, produces over 100 different cannabinoids, and cannabigerol (CBG) serves as the precursor molecule for the most abundant phytocannabinoids.
“This article retraces the story of cannabis from the earliest contacts of humans with the plant to its subsequent global expansion, its medicinal uses, and the discovery of the endocannabinoid system in the 20th century. Cannabis was attested to around 12 000 years ago near the Altai Mountains in Central Asia, and since then, cannabis seeds have accompanied the migration of nomadic peoples. Records of the medicinal use of cannabis appear before the Common Era in China, Egypt, and Greece (Herodotus), and later in the Roman empire (Pliny the Elder, Dioscorides, Galen). In the 19th century, orientalists like Silvestre de Sacy, and Western physicians coming into contact with Muslim and Indian cultures, like O’Shaughnessy and Moreau de Tours, introduced the medicinal use of cannabis into Europe. The structure of the main psychoactive phytocannabinoid, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was determined in Israel by Mechoulam and Gaoni in 1964. This discovery opened the gate for many of the subsequent developments in the field of endocannabinoid system (ECS) research. The advances in the scientific knowledge of the ECS place the debate on cannabis liberalization in a new context.”
“Introduction and objectives: Previous studies reveal conflicting data on the effect of cannabis use in patients with cirrhosis. This research evaluates the impact of cannabis on hepatic decompensation, health care utilization, and mortality in patients with cirrhosis.