A THC-like substance that occurs naturally in humans and other vertebrates helps maintain immunity, memory, nerve function and more – and research suggests a lack of it can harm health.
With the dual threats of antibiotic resistance and emerging pandemics, finding new drugs becomes even more urgent. A trove of medicines may be lying under our nose.
Different painkillers provide relief in different ways. The most effective medication is the one that best targets the type of pain you’re experiencing with minimal side effects.
A growing body of research points to the body’s natural cannabinoid system as the primary driver behind the runner’s high – and the mental health boost and stress relief following exercise.
Weed, though far less dangerous than many other drugs, is not entirely without risk. Some 59% of people treating pain with medical cannabis experience moderate to severe withdrawal symptoms
There is no doubt a regulated market for access to medicinal cannabis is safer, but if cannabis-based products were allowed to bypass efficacy trials, there’s a potential cost to patient safety.
We’ve got better at managing the health risks of traditional drugs of abuse, but novel psychoactive substances, or ‘legal highs’, are a dangerous unknown.
As Canada moves towards legalization of cannabis in 2018, there is growing evidence of the drug’s potential to treat opioid addiction itself, as well as the chronic pain that often drives it.
The Australian government will now accept licence applications for groups wanting to grow cannabis for scientific and medical purposes. But there’s still a lot we don’t know about this complex plant.
Medical oncologist from Chris O`Brien Lifehouse cancer hospital, Lead researcher NSW Government clinical trial into the role of cannabis-derived medicines in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, Clinical Associate Professor., University of Sydney