Not Feeling Well? Perhaps You’re ‘Marijuana Deficient’
Drug Policy — POSTED BY Cosmo on April 19, 2010 at 9:01 pm

Scientists have begun speculating that the root cause of disease conditions such as
migraines and irritable bowel syndrome may be endocannabinoid deficiency.


From AlterNet, by Paul Armentano

For several years I have postulated that marijuana is not, in the strict sense of the
word, an intoxicant.

As I wrote in the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?
(Chelsea Green, 2009), the word ‘intoxicant’ is derived from the Latin noun toxicum
(poison). It’s an appropriate term for alcohol, as ethanol (the psychoactive ingredient
in booze) in moderate to high doses is toxic (read: poisonous) to healthy cells and
organs.

Of course, booze is hardly the only commonly ingested intoxicant. Take the over-the-
counter painkiller acetaminophen (Tylenol). According to the Merck online medical
library, acetaminophen poisoning and overdose is “common,” and can result in
gastroenteritis (inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract) “within hours” and
hepatotoxicity (liver damage) “within one to three days after ingestion.” In fact, less
than one year ago the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called for tougher
standards and warnings governing the drug’s use because “recent studies indicate
that unintentional and intentional overdoses leading to severe hepatotoxicity continue
to occur.”

By contrast, the therapeutically active components in marijuana — the cannabinoids
— appear to be remarkably non-toxic to healthy cells and organs. This notable lack of
toxicity is arguably because cannabinoids mimic compounds our bodies naturally
produce — so-called endocannabinoids — that are pivotal for maintaining proper
health and homeostasis.

In fact, in recent years scientists have discovered that the production of
endocannabinoids (and their interaction with the cannabinoid receptors located
throughout the body) play a key role in the regulation of proper appetite, anxiety
control, blood pressure, bone mass, reproduction, and motor coordination, among
other biological functions.

Just how important is this system in maintaining our health? Here’s a clue: In studies
of mice genetically bred to lack a proper endocannabinoid system the most common
result is premature death.

Armed with these findings, a handful of scientists have speculated that the root cause
of certain disease conditions — including migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel
syndrome, and other functional conditions alleviated by clinical cannabis — may be
an underlying endocannabinoid deficiency.

Now, much to my pleasant surprise, Fox News Health columnist Chris Kilham has
weighed in on this important theory.

    Are You Cannabis Deficient?
    via Fox News

    If the idea of having a marijuana deficiency sounds laughable to you, a growing
body of science points at exactly such a possibility.

    
 [Endocannabinoids] also play a role in proper appetite, feelings of pleasure and
well-being, and memory. Interestingly, cannabis also affects these same functions.
Cannabis has been used successfully to treat migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel
syndrome and glaucoma. So here is the seventy-four thousand dollar question. Does
cannabis simply relieve these diseases to varying degrees, or is cannabis actually a
medical replacement in cases of deficient [endocannabinoids]?

    
 The idea of clinical cannabinoid deficiency opens the door to cannabis
consumption as an effective medical approach to relief of various types of pain,
restoration of appetite in cases in which appetite is compromised, improved visual
health in cases of glaucoma, and improved sense of well being among patients
suffering from a broad variety of mood disorders. As state and local laws mutate and
change in favor of greater tolerance, perhaps cannabis will find it’s proper place in
the home medicine chest.

Perhaps. Or maybe at the very least society will cease classifying cannabis as a ‘toxic’
substance when its more appropriate role would appear to be more like that of a
supplement.

Paul Armentano is the deputy director of NORML (the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws), and is the co-author of the book Marijuana Is Safer: So
Why Are We Driving People to Drink (2009, Chelsea Green).