CBD is a THC inhibitor
A consortium of British universities and research centers has conducted the first ever MRI study of the effects of THC and CBD molecules on the human brain. The results, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, demonstrate that the cannabidiol molecule acts as an inhibitor of tetrahydrocannabinol.
On the pages of the specialized electronic edition of national cannabis growers, more than once attention has been focused on the exclusive characteristics of therapeutic varieties of technical hemp, the healing / health properties of which are based on the minimum amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), with the maximum allowable values for other therapeutically active elements of the plant, in particular cannabidiol (CBD). One of the arguments cited in support of the above statement is the publication of American pharmacologists who argue that the amount of plant cannabidiol in a hemp plant is not of key importance for the most effective effect of its therapeutic properties on the human body. The main one is the CBD / THC ratio, which in cases with therapeutic hemp bred by national breeders is many times more powerful than what is cultivated in the market of economically developed countries of the world to obtain plant cannabidiol from technical hemp, and even more so from varieties with psychoactive properties. All the more interesting are the materials sent to us for use by our British colleagues, who, after conducting a number of studies, claim that plant CBD is a THC inhibitor.
Since the 1960s, the effects of THC and CBD on the human body have been the subject of ongoing research. Separately, the effects of the two above-mentioned cannabinoids found in cannabis and marijuana were well known, but until recently it was difficult to understand their real combined effects on the human brain.
A consortium of British universities and research centers has conducted the first ever MRI study of the effects of THC and CBD molecules on the human brain. The results, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, demonstrate that the cannabidiol molecule acts as an inhibitor of tetrahydrocannabinol. In particular, a group of scientists from the Department of Psychopharmacology of the University College London Hospital (University College London, UCL) began by systematizing the observations obtained over the past 20 years. The level of addictions and psychosis associated with marijuana consumption was analyzed. It was found that the number of addictions and various kinds of neurodegenerative diseases increased, and this trend was all the more associated with the use of cannabis varieties with the maximum amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (confirmed by studies published by American scientists, which we have already mentioned more than once).
The highlight of the experiments were experiments in which scientists observed the brain activity at rest of 17 subjects who consumed two varieties of cannabis. One of the two strains with similar THC concentration contained higher amounts of CBD. When reading the obtained MRI images, the researchers found that the use of plants with a high content of tetrahydrocannabinol negatively affected the functional ability of the subjects' brains, while the strains with an increased content of cannabidiol caused only minimal disruption.
In addition, subjects who consumed the higher CBD strain did not report the psychoactive effects reported by those using the THC higher strains. Based on the experiments, it was concluded that CBD interacts with THC and counteracts its negative effects on the human body; accordingly, cannabidiol at least protects the human brain from the negative psychoactive effects caused by tetrahydrocannabinol.
Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"
An inhibitor (Latin inhibere "to detain") is a general name for substances that suppress or retard the course of physiological and physicochemical (mainly enzymatic) processes.
The information provided by our colleagues from the UK indicates at once several key points that need to be understood by national cannabis growers or consumers of products that contain therapeutically active elements of cannabis:
- plant materials rich in therapeutically active elements of hemp are the less dangerous for the human body, the less tetrahydrocannabinol and more cannabidiol in it;
- cannabidiol is able to restore certain disorders of brain activity, since its action triggers a neuroprotective mechanism (it is already actively used to treat a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including by Ukrainian specialists);
- plant cannabidiol can act as a potential treatment for mental pathologies, such as psychosis and drug addiction (in Israel, there is already a method for treating various kinds of addictions, such as cannabinoid therapy);
- due to the fact that CBD is a THC inhibitor, the minimum allowable amount of tetrahydrocannabinol in a plant with the maximum amount of other therapeutically active elements indicates that they do not waste their healing properties on compensating for the negative effects of tetrahydrocannabinol on the body. With regard to cannabidiol, there are already data from our British colleagues, and with respect to other therapeutically active elements in cannabis, it seems that similar studies will appear over time.