As new daily coronavirus infections continue to break records in the U.S., researchers are considering whether the cannabis plant has the potential to be used in the treatment of COVID-19.
Experts from the University of Nebraska and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute are recommending that scientists look into how the potential use of cannabis-derived CBD might help treat dangerous lung inflammation from the novel coronavirus. They said its anti-inflammatory properties make it a likely candidate to treat some of the more dangerous symptoms of the coronavirus.
There is no scientific evidence that cannabis or its compounds can help with COVID-19 specifically, but in a new peer-reviewed article in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, researchers explained that “recent reports have suggested that acute infection is associated with a cytokine superstorm, which contributes to the symptoms of fever, cough, muscle pain,” and in severe cases, pneumonia.
Dr. Emily Earlenbaugh, co-founder and director of education for Mindful Cannabis Consulting, explained that one of the important strategies that scientists are studying in the fight against COVID-19 is reducing inflammation that can overwhelm the body as a patient tries to fight off the virus.
“Early on in the research into how to fight these cytokine storms, researchers noted that IL-6 cytokine inhibitors could be helpful,” Earlenbaugh said on CBSN.
The authors of the study wrote that one drug, Tocilizumab, resulted in the “clearance of lung consolidation and recovery” in 90% of the 21 treated patients. The drug, however, resulted in adverse side effects like pancreas inflammation and hypertriglyceridemia.
Researchers then turned to cannabis, specifically CBD. The authors said that several cannabinoids in the cannabis plant have anti-inflammatory properties. They said CBD “has shown beneficial anti-inflammatory effects in pre-clinical models of various chronic inflammatory diseases” and could potentially help reduce inflammation for COVID-19 patients.
“CBD has very few side effects, so it’s something that’s being looked at as a much more mild treatment that still has a lot of anti-inflammatory powers,” Earlenbaugh told CBSN. It has also already been approved by the FDA for children with certain forms of epilepsy.
The authors of the study said that CBD increases the production of interferons, “a type of signaling protein that activates immune cells and prevents viruses from replicating,” Earlenbaugh said.
But given the very early stages of this research, Earlenbaugh warns that people should “definitely express caution” against using cannabis to fight COVID-19. She said some researchers have warned using the drug early on in the infection stages could cause negative side effects.
“We’re very pretty far away from human research that could really definitively answer those questions for us,” Earlenbaugh says. “The other reason for caution is that cytokines are important in fighting off infections. So, we don’t want to reduce them as a preventative measure or in early stages of the infection.”
