You’ve probably seen the headlines: “Marijuana can cure COVID-19!” “Cannabis proven to help with COVID-19 illness!”
The actual truth is something far more complicated.
Last month, researchers at the Global Hemp Innovation Center at Oregon State University published a study in the Journal of Natural Products which found that a pair of acids found in hemp could help prevent COVID-19 infections or prevent serious illness.
But when it comes to scientific research, marijuana is unlike any other substance. It’s caught up in a tangled web of federal regulations and plant biology, creating a deep divide between what’s grown or studied in a lab and what’s ingested by millions of marijuana users daily.
Let’s take a look at how this works, and if marijuana can really cure COVID-19.
What happened in this study?
Researchers with the Global Hemp Innovation Center at Oregon State University published a study in January that found a pair of acids found in cannabis — cannabigerolic acid, or CBG-A, and cannabidolic acid, CBD-A — binds to the “spike protein” that the COVID-19 virus uses to infect people.
That spike protein is the same one targeted by the COVID-19 vaccines and other therapies used to prevent serious illness from the virus.
“The acids from hemp, could be used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and also to shorten infections by preventing virus particles from infecting human cells,” Dr. Richard van Breemen, the lead researcher on the project, said in a…
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You’ve probably seen the headlines: “Marijuana can cure COVID-19!” “Cannabis proven to help with COVID-19 illness!”
The actual truth is something far more complicated.
Last month, researchers at the Global Hemp Innovation Center at Oregon State University published a study in the Journal of Natural Products which found that a pair of acids found in hemp could help prevent COVID-19 infections or prevent serious illness.
But when it comes to scientific research, marijuana is unlike any other substance. It’s caught up in a tangled web of federal regulations and plant biology, creating a deep divide between what’s grown or studied in a lab and what’s ingested by millions of marijuana users daily.
Let’s take a look at how this works, and if marijuana can really cure COVID-19.
What happened in this study?
Researchers with the Global Hemp Innovation Center at Oregon State University published a study in January that found a pair of acids found in cannabis — cannabigerolic acid, or CBG-A, and cannabidolic acid, CBD-A — binds to the “spike protein” that the COVID-19 virus uses to infect people.
That spike protein is the same one targeted by the COVID-19 vaccines and other therapies used to prevent serious illness from the virus.
“The acids from hemp, could be used to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and also to shorten infections by preventing virus particles from infecting human cells,” Dr. Richard van Breemen, the lead researcher on the project, said in a…
