Sticks & stones may break your bones, but marijuana heals them, says a recent study. Medicinal marijuana is starting to be more and more of a regular practice, and as the social stigma involved around the consuming of the hallucinogenic drug fades, a lot of researchers are looking into how the plant can further help us in healthcare.
The doctors and scientists at the Tel Aviv University of Israel have uncovered some interesting truths. It may soon be that your doctor prescribing you the fan-favorite drug as a treatment for that broken leg, or arm, or any other boney part of your body.
The Laboratory for Bone Research at the university worked in collaboration with the Bone Laboratory from the Hebrew University and uncovered a very strange connection between an element of cannabis called CBD, our bodies’ natural cannabinoid receptors, and the regrowth of bone.
It turns out that our bodies have a natural inclination toward cannabinoids, which is one of the reasons why we so readily respond to cannabis. Dr. Yankel Gabet, one of the lead scientists involved said that we are built having receptors and intrinsic compounds that can be activated by cannabinoids.
One such cannabinoid is CBD, or cannabinoid cannabidiol. This compound is purely anti-inflammatory, Gabel says, and does not have the usual hallucinogenic effects that come with the consumption of marijuana. This is because it is rid of the active element that affects our brains – the tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
To test this theory that they had come up with, Gabel and his late colleague of the Hebrew University, Professor Itai Bab, tested the effects of cannabis on rats. They saw that with the drug in their system, the rats healed bone injuries much faster.
Yet, they couldn’t exactly pinpoint which of the two elements was having the enhanced bone growth effect. To find out, they injected two groups of rats with broken legs, one with CBD, while the other control group had both CBD as well as THC. The results showed that both the CBD group and the CBD & THC group had regrown their bones.
The conclusion was that CBD, the anti-inflammatory part of cannabis, is sufficient for the desired effect of accelerated bone growth, the THC part not being necessary. An interesting fact is that not only was bone growth enhanced, but the regrown bones were even stronger than before braking. Superpowers? Yes, please!
The final note of the research is that the positive effects of marijuana need be further studied, since it is now being proven time and again that removing the THC can annul the damaging psycho-effects of the drug.
Image source: goodmenproject.com
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