The Cannabis Crop

THE CANNABIS CROP The Cannabis plant has been cultivated for millennia and was used in various foods and product. Over time, it was excluded from research due to its psychoactive effects, however, as of recently its claims of importance in medicine has evoked studies on the plant. All around the world, governments are starting to introduce the idea of legalisation. This has brought up many controversies due to the gap of knowledge brought about by the prohibition and misconceptions. The most known psychotropic cannabinoid is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is known for the psychoactive effects. Nonetheless, many other compounds are found in the plant, which have an effect on the body, many of which are under investigation for possible pharmaceutical use (Grayson, 2015).

The prolonged lack of research on Cannabis brings about many problems for scientists especially botanists who have not been able to track the species and subspecies which developed along the years. The lack of evidence has not inspired governments to fund research on the plant nor have they been communicating the risks whilst clearing up the misconceptions, which has been stimulating the stigma. An example of this would be whether the use of the plant causes schizophrenia or encourage it in people predisposed to the condition. Therefore, the legal status of the plant is disparate (Page & Ware, 2015). Some countries have made it fully legal and about four countries are funding research programmes, while others have limited its use to prescribed medical use. Some countries are starting to decriminalize its possession, but in many countries, severe punishments for possession are still common.

There are three main species which are Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. It is not confirmed whether C. indica and C. ruderalis are subspecies of C. sativa or the three are completely different species (Gould, 2015). It contains cannabinoids which is one of diverse chemical compounds that act on receptors in cells, altering the release of neurotransmitters in the brain. These chemicals are produced in the trichomes of

the plant, which are structures which reduce water loss, protect from the sun’s UV rays, and act as defence mechanisms against predators. However, the plant has many other aspects besides the cannabinoids, such as its fibres which can be used to make fabrics and its hempseeds which are in fact nuts containing a lot of oil. They can also be grown to have a different chemical makeup than those used for recreational or pharmaceutical purposes.

As laws on the Cannabis plant are relaxed, legal frameworks need to be established in order to classify whether a given type is used for material, recreational or medical purposes. Also, in order to grow commercially, the chemical properties and their capabilities, of the given type, need to be elucidated. The United States as well as other countries have already made a move in the direction of progress in terms of research, as permission has been granted to farmers to grow hemp for research, as the demand is pressing.

The aim is to create databases which contain cannabis information which is reliable in order to start registering cultivars. However, this can only be done properly if enough taxonomic information is at hand and researchers, regulators, growers and users can make use of the same information (Laursen, 2015). Registered cultivars would be a big issue in Malta, as lawmakers would have to determine how much land will be used for cultivation and how that would be further separated according to the different types and uses. Land is already very limited in this country so a lot of decisions and question need to be resolved on how much would be allowed to grow or whether the plant would only be imported making it illegal to grow here.

The drug discovery process has been reversed when it comes to the use of Cannabis as much of the research found today, concerning the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids were initiated by circumstantial observation of people self-medicating by smoking, for various health issues. Although, this is nothing new as some of the most important drugs were discovered in this way. This has led to the production of synthetic phytocannabinoids such as dronobinol, which is the man-made version of THC which treats the appetite loss in AIDS patients. Others like nabilone are used to treat nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. In terms of natural phytocannabinoids, only one medication is used, Sativex, which is associated with multiple sclerosis.

The endocannabinoid system is the target of cannabinoids including THC, and comes into play in numerous processes such as that associated with appetite, memory, pain, bone health and inflammation (McPartland & Russo, 2001). The receptors of this system are very numerous and widespread, and associated with many brain functions making cannabinoids very influential over physiological processes and could potentially treat an array of conditions. Two main receptors have been identified which are CB1 and CB2, which are found mainly in the nervous system and immune system respectively.

These receptors are in effect not because of the use of Cannabis, but because the body produces endocannabinoids which effect multiple neurons at the same time, these are known as neuromodulators. The researchers who were the first to identify THC as well as Raphael Mechoulam, who is a chemist at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have suspected that the endocannabinoid system could be responsible for people’s personalities as they play a crucial part in memory, emotional responses, learning and other factors of the sort. They speculate that personalities are determined by the different ratios of these compounds.

The stigma related to the use of the Cannabis plant has partly to do with the idea that smoking foments schizophrenia. It is true that some researchers have argued that eliminating particular strains from society, would reduce the diseases’ ubiquity. Regulators could easily use this to justify laws, however, from a scientific point of view the evidence would state otherwise. Although use changes from place to place, nonetheless, about 20% of the adolescent population have been making use of Cannabis recreationally since the 1960s (Hill, 2015).

This would mean, that if the drug does encourage schizophrenia, the rate of patients suffering from the disease should have increased exponentially with the rise of Cannabis use. Yet, as research has shown, the incidence of schizophrenia remained stable since the 1960s. These findings acknowledge the improvement of diagnostic practices, and still the numbers do not indicate that Cannabis instigates the development of the disease.

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