THE USE OF CANNABIS IN NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS

Hi, everybody my name is Michela and I’m a pharmacist with a great passion for the brain, so I decided to continue my studies and now I’m a Neuroscience student.
I would like to share with you something that I’ve recently discovered.
Few days ago, I came across an interesting conference held at UCL (University College of London) and it was about Cannabis and the effect that it has on the brain and in particular on the brain of schizophrenic people.

A disabling brain disease: Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia affects approximately 1 % of the population over the course of life [1], and is characterized by positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking) and negative symptoms (social withdrawal, amotivation a and affective flattening) as well as deficits in cognition (memory, executive functioning, and processing speed), and a decline in social and occupational functioning.[2]

Cannabis: the difference between CBD and THC

You know that Cannabis is mainly used as a psychoactive substance but you probably also know that it can be used as a therapeutic drug.
But have you ever wonder why? How is possible that the same molecule can cause different effects at the level of our brain? In order to understand it, we have to do at first an explanation about the fact that cannabis plant is made up by about 100 different cannabinoids, but the 2 most prominent are the CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).
And we can say that whereas the CBD is considered “the good part” of the cannabis plant, the THC is the cannabinoid that makes you stoned.
Let’s see the differences:

CBD

• Reduces the anxiety
• Anti-psychotic effect
• Improves learning and memory

THC

• Induces anxiety
• Psychotic effect
• Impairs learning and memory

The researchers of the UCL performed an experiment in which they compared the hairs of 3 groups of schizophrenic people: the first one that hadn’t any cannabinoids in their hair, the second one had just the THC and the third one had both THC and CBD.
What they found was that the first group didn’t show any psychotic symptom, the second did it and the third one, as the first group, didn’t show any psychotic symptom.
That suggests us that the CBD protects against psychotic- like effects of THC and that it can be used as a probable treatment for the schizophrenia.

What do you think about it?
Can you imagine a future use of Cannabis even for other brain disorders?

References

[1]Kendler KS, Gallagher TJ, Abelson JM, Kessler RC. Lifetime prevalence, demographic risk factors, and diagnostic validity of nonaffective psychosis as assessed in a US community sample. The National Comorbidity Survey. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1996;52:1022–1031. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1996.01830110060007.

[2]Tandon R, Gaebel W, Barch DM, et al. Definition and description of schizophrenia in the DSM-5. Schizophr Res. 2013;150:3–10. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2013.05.028.