Cannabis should be seen as ‘saviour to mankind’

True, raw organic cannabis is safer than the pharmaceutical oral cannabinoid available on prescription, ‘Sativex’, which among other things contains ethanol (a chemical compound) – ethyl alcohol. Distributed through Bayer, big pharma, big profit.

Cannabis – what is it? Cannabis sativa, to give it its full name, is a plant that grows in the wild in various parts of the world.

The cannabis plant is the most beneficial plant known to mankind. The health benefits from this plant have been shown as scientific facts. Every person on earth has what is known as an endocannabinoid system within our bodies (along with other mammals). This system contains ‘cannabinoids’. These cannabinoids can be found in the cannabis plant. The structure of the cannabinoids in cannabis is virtually the same as the structure of cannabinoids found in the human body.

It is scientific fact that our human bodies have receptors within the brain and central nervous system to receive these cannabinoids.

In fact, the human body produces these cannabinoids, one being know scientifically as Delta 9THC (Tetrehydrachloride), which the human body produces when we exercise, for example, and produces a natural ‘high’, sometimes referred to as ‘the runner’s high’.

When people smoke cannabis and get ‘high’, it is because of overloading the endocannabinoid system with THC. This in itself is quite harmless with no lasting effects. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as other factors come into play, such as alcohol or other toxic substances.

Cannabis can be hugely beneficial medicinally, not only for physical wellbeing but for mental health too, if used in smaller doses.

Science today is showing us new evidence of the beneficial properties of cannabis for physical and mental health on a daily basis.

Another fact about cannabis plants –industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) is used for an endless number of good purposes, from building materials to oils and creams, and it grows at a vast rate. Hemp can replace paper (saving trees). It can replace plastics and can be used as a biofuel, to name but a few of its seemingly endless uses.

So all in all, the Cannabis sativa plant is and should be classed as a saviour to mankind.

Here’s a thought to end on – if cannabis is illegal because of the cannabinoids it contains, then it is true to say that all we humans, including lawmakers, judges, law enforcement etc., are guilty of possession of these cannabinoids within our own endocannabinoid system, which makes a complete mockery of the law as it stands.

More information about the cannabis plant – cannabis sativa in its raw organic form is non psychoactive so does not make you ‘high’, it is only when it is heated up (smoked for example) that the compounds found in cannabis, cannabinoids, change (notably THC). This is a scientific fact, as anyone who has studied domestic science or chemistry would know that heating certain foods goes through the same process (tomatoes for example).

When cannabis is consumed in its raw state (juicing, for example) we can have all the benefits of the cannabinoids CBD without the ‘buzz’.

I have been using and studying cannabis for more than 50 years now and totally agree with Professor David Nutt (British psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the use of drugs) that not only should cannabis be made legal, but should also be available through the NHS.

MICHAEL PENNYCOOK.