Cannabis Cure for Covid-19?
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that has been front and centre in the minds of everyone around the world for most of 2020. It is transmitted mainly through droplets that are generated when people cough, sneeze or exhale. These droplets are heavy so they generally fall quickly to the floor or other surfaces, however, you can be infected by breathing in these droplets if you are close enough to someone who is infected or by touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth. No vaccine has been created as of yet to combat COVID-19 and the world continues to look to science for a cure.
Two researchers from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta have long been studying the use of cannabis to fight cancer and when the pandemic struck, they turned their attention to COVID-19. Various news sources have reported upon their efforts and in turn, brick and mortar cannabis shops, mail order marijuana outlets and online marijuana dispensaries have been receiving more and more inquires as to the effectiveness of cannabis in fighting this virus. Cannabis has been used as a drug to treat ailments for at least 3,000 years and access has never been easier especially when ordering weed online through an online marijuana dispensary. Many who have been suffering chronic illnesses have had their quality of life improved with this drug so it is only fitting to hope that cannabis may be able to help in this instance as well.
It is the hope of these researchers in Lethbridge to find strains of cannabis that would interfere with the ability of the virus to attack the body. Their thinking is that a cannabis-based drug would block the virus from entering the body in the first place and then from propagating if it was already in the system. With extensive past research already done on the virus that causes other respiratory illnesses similar to COVID-19, certain strains were found to boost an immune system that was already under attack by the virus. A select number of strains developed by the Lethbridge researchers were tested on human tissue models and were found to help decrease the chance of contracting the virus.
Unfortunately for cannabis shops, mail order marijuana outlets and online marijuana dispensaries the strains that are being used by the Lethbridge researchers are not available for sale so any thoughts of “boosting” your immune system with these particular strains in the meantime are not possible—still this has not stopped the masses from contacting online dispensaries in Canada in hopes of purchasing some of this cannabis for added “protection”. Smoking of these said strains to combat COVID-19 has so far not been part of the research effort as the goal is to develop inhalers and mouthwashes to help prevent and treat the disease.
Given the method in which the virus is transmitted, this is logical, so any hopes you may have of eventually buying edibles online to help protect yourself from a virus that is threatening the globe is a bit of a stretch. Take care and stay safe everyone!