Endocannabinoid System

by KELLY MILNER HALLS

When the United States government funded a cannabis study at the St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1988, they were hoping to document the danger of using the schedule 1 narcotic thought to be on a par with cocaine and heroin.

SLU researchers Dr. Allyn Howlett and Dr. William Devane confirmed that naturally occurring receptors in mammalian bodies were impacted by compounds in cannabis. They named them cannabinoid receptors and proved they were the most abundant neurotransmitter receptors in the human brain.

Dr. Devane carried the research forward in 1992 with Dr. Lumir Hanus at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. They cracked the code on the human endocannabinoid system—ECS—and the impact of cannabis. What they discovered was not dangerous. In fact, it was a possible pathway to relief.

According to Katie Stem, the CEO of Peak Extracts, a cannabis production facility in Portland, Oregon, “The system consists of two main receptor types: CB1 and CB2. [They] elicit effects on the entire nervous system, from your brain to your fingertips,” she said in the High Times

Dr. Paul Song, Chief Medical Officer at Peak confirmed that the highest concentrations of CB1 receptors were found in the brain, while most CB2 receptors were a function of the nervous system. “But both CB1 and CB2 receptors are found throughout the body,” he said.

THC, the chemical component of cannabis that creates a “high” binds to both CB1 and CB2 receptors, impacting the body and the brain. CBD, a cannabis byproduct found in hemp binds with receptors without producing a “high.”

Experts believe the endocannabinoid system controls pain, appetite, memory, immunity, anxiety, sexuality and other key components of the human body, via those receptors. By harnessing the positive aspects of cannabinoid plant life, the receptors could be amplified or quieted to address chronic medical issues.

Though cannabis and hemp are the most popular cannabinoids, Dr. Brent Bauer of the Mayo Clinic confirms there are others. “Current research has found cannabinoids in many plants including clove, black pepper, echinacea, broccoli, ginseng and carrots,” he said in Thorne

Consuming carrots and black pepper won’t produce a high, but their cannabinoids do offer physical benefits. Like all bodily functions, the ECS requires nourishment for full function. Cannabinoids of all kinds provide that fuel.

What does your body’s ECS require? The answer may be a unique as you are, according to Dr. Ethan Russo, author of “The Case for the Entourage Effect and Conventional Breeding of Cannabis.”

“We hear a lot these days about individualized medicine,” he said in the Can-