Right now, anything and everything is being examined for potential use against COVID-19, whether as treatment, prevention, or cure. Now, researches are looking at cannabis as a potential way to prevent the virus… because of course they are.
Cannabis has many uses, from decreasing inflammation, reducing stress and anxiety, increasing creativity, and more. Two Canadian researchers, Olga and Igor Kovalchuck, are examining a “special strain” of cannabis for its possible COVID-19 preventing properties, reports Forbes.
Originally, the strain they’ve been developing was to be used to combat cancer and inflammation, but they switched directions when COVID-19 became an imminent threat.
Published in an April issue of the online medical journal Preprints, it states, “Similar to other respiratory pathogens, SARS-CoV2 is transmitted through respiratory droplets, with potential for aerosol and contact spread. It uses receptor-mediated entry into the human host via angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) that is expressed in lung tissue, as well as oral and nasal mucosa, kidney, testes, and the gastrointestinal tract. Modulation of ACE2 levels in these gateway tissues may prove a plausible strategy for decreasing disease susceptibility.”
The Kovalchucks’ strain of cannabis would be “used to decrease the level of ACE2 gene expression, essentially temporarily closing the doors to the virus.”
Of course more research is required and it remains a theoretical approach for the time being, but the possibilities are promising. Wearing masks, social distancing, and regularly washing your hands remain the best methods of avoiding COVID-19 right now.
via Forbes
