Cannabis extracts may reduce the risk of dying from Covid-19

Certain cannabis extracts may reduce the risk of dying from Covid-19 by preventing a patient’s faulty immune system from attacking themselves, research shows.

A “cytokine storm” is a process by which the immune system breaks down and attacks healthy tissue instead of just the virus.

In many severe cases of Covid, this is what proves fatal, and finding a way to mitigate this process has been a priority for doctors.

Today, researchers at the University of Lethbridge studied how plant extracts of Cannabis sativa interact with cytokines.

They found three strains that are very effective in reducing the levels of two of the chemicals that play an integral role in the cytokine storm.

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Specific cannabis extracts may reduce risk of dying from Covid-19 by preventing faulty immune system from inflicting damage (stock)

The researchers have over 200 cannabis variants in their collection and have narrowed that number down to seven for their study, which has yet to be peer reviewed and is being published as a preprint on Research Square.

“In this study, we identified three extracts that are very, very good strains; some strains identified in previous studies were also quite good, ”says Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, co-author of the study.

The strains are known only as the numbers four, eight and 14.

Stopping the cytokine storm has been a priority for researchers since it was first identified in the early days of the pandemic.

It persists even when the virus has been eradicated from the body and leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) which can be a fatal condition.

It can also cause pulmonary fibrosis, which is when the lung tissue is damaged and scarred and therefore unable to function properly.

The study used professionally grown cannabis plants that were carefully extracted and applied to models and the researchers say their results do not mean that smoking marijuana or using CBD oil offers protection against Covid- 19 (stock)

It is a debilitating condition that is difficult to treat, with only a lung transplant providing a cure for patients.

“When we started reading the literature about what makes ARDS” it was very clear that it is driven by the same molecules that are involved in many autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases, ”said Dr Kovalchuk.

“One of them is interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the other is called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a).”

In experiments performed on a “ 3D model of human skin tissue, ” designed to mimic the human body, researchers found three cannabis extracts that lowered levels of IL-6 and TNF-a.

The study used professionally grown cannabis plants that were carefully extracted and applied to models, and the researchers say their results do not mean that smoking marijuana or using CBD oil offers protection against it. Covid-19.

Dr Kovalchuk and his team had previously found that chemicals in cannabis could prevent SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells.

The next step in the research is to get cannabis treatments into clinical trials to see if they are effective in treating severe Covid-19 patients in intensive care.

Earlier this month, data was released that two anti-inflammatory drugs already used to treat arthritis are effective in stopping the cytokine storm.

In one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the pandemic, scientists found that the drugs could increase the chances of survival of patients already taking dexamethasone, a steroid that British scientists found could reduce mortality in patients. sickest Covid patients during the summer.

Matt Hancock also described the discovery as “another landmark development in the search for a way out of this pandemic.”

The results come from the REMAP-CAP trial which involved 3,900 people with severe Covid in 15 countries. The drugs, marketed under the brand name Actemra and Kevzara, are given by intravenous infusion over one hour.

Almost two-thirds of people in their 20s have used illegal drugs in their lifetime

Almost two-thirds of young adults in Britain have taken an illegal drug at least once in their life, new research shows.

This figure is 22.2% higher than official data from the Crime Survey England and Wales, which informs government policy.

The authors of the new analysis, from Bristol and Public Health England, say that the illegality of illicit drug use means that it is difficult to assess true use and leads to underestimates.

Amphetamine is the most underreported drug, and the new study finds that nearly one in three (32.9%) of 24-year-olds have taken the illegal drug.

This is a fourfold increase in the prevalence observed in the crime survey, which registers only 8.1%.

Amphetamine was defined as containing MDMA but not ecstasy, which itself was consumed by one in nine (11.1%) people in their twenties.

Cannabis was consumed by 60.5% of people, a significant increase from the lower estimate of 37.3%, according to the study.

The data also shows that powdered cocaine was consumed by 30.8% of people, up from 13.9% of the figure touted by the Crime Survey.

Crack use is the same for both surveys, at just 1% of the population, while hallucinogens are up from 11.3% to 18.1% of people in the Bristol study.

Opioid use was statistically higher and was taken by one in 20 people, while sedatives or tranquilizers were used by 11.6% of young adults, up 8.1%.

Pictured is the percentage of respondents to the Bristol study looking at how many people have used illicit drugs at some point in their lives