Since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, periodically the cannabis world will come out with news or a study that claims cannabis can combat Covid 19. On January 13, 2022, the internet and news cycle was ablaze with a study from Oregon State University published in The Journal of Natural Products claiming cannabis may prevent Covid 19 infection. Many media outlets picked up this story (such as this article published on Yahoo!) with clickbait news titles.
We at Route 961 are skeptical of many, but not all, claims of medicinal cannabis curing just about everything known to man, so we decided to dig a little deeper into this study. Too many times cannabis advocates take snippets of information from medical cannabis studies – or twist information – to advocate legalizing marijuana. Covid is a political and emotional topic for many, so this study was worth digging into to find out what Oregon State published in their study.
The link to the study is above and there is a lot of “heavy” technical information in it. Some quick points to note from it are:
- Researchers aren’t claiming cannabinoids found in hemp, namely CBGa and CBDa, conclusively stop Covid from infecting people. Their research concluded these cannabinoids and others have the potential to block viral entry by binding to the spike protein of the virus. This is a first step, but they believe their research shows promise.
- This study was done with no human participants. Researchers used human tissue samples to study how cannabinoids interacted with a psuedovirus of Covid and common covid variants to block viral entry into the body. Researchers studied the binding of the virus spike protein to the human surface receptor enzyme ACE2, and if cell entry inhibitors (cannabinoids) could be used to prevent the virus from infecting human cells.
- Researchers used the acid form of these cannabinoids, namely CBGa and CBDa. These cannabinoids weren’t exposed to heat and decarboxylated, such as with smoking or vaping. Researchers used an oral form of these cannabinoids in this study.
- Researchers didn’t use decarboxylated cannabinoids, namely Delta 9 THC, which is the psychoactive cannabinoid that gets people high. Researchers noted these cannabinoids are not effective at fighting the virus.
Please follow the link above to find out more. Again, we’re skeptical of many medical cannabis claims because these claims are used to push for legalizing marijuana. It would be downright silly to suggest smoking anything is effective at combating a respiratory disease. Researchers published data that showed only the carboxylic acid forms of these cannabinoids in oral form were effective, not Delta 9 THC (which includes oral Delta 9 THC, Delta 8 THC, and others). More research is needed on whether these cannabinoids really stop Covid infection, including rigorous FDA approval trials.
The clickbait titles in the news and on social media can be misleading. If you hear someone claim marijuana stops Covid, please keep the above information in mind. We are hopeful the theories published by Oregon State researchers come to fruition after going through the proper scientific verification to help people combat Covid 19.