Since its earliest applications in antiquity, medical cannabis has shown promise in aiding people with a range of illnesses, ailments, and ails.
Medical specialists are advising medical cannabis and cannabis extracts alongside more conventional treatments due to their growing acceptance and legality throughout the United States, México, Latin America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The endocannabinoid system and its interactions with the human immune system are at the heart of medicinal cannabis’ capacity to aid with challenging, unpleasant symptoms and side effects. To comprehend how medicinal marijuana might lessen these symptoms and encourage healthy transformation or equilibrium within the human body and mind, one must have a solid grasp of this relationship.
What Functions Do the Immune System?
The innate immune system and the adaptive immune system are the two components that make up the immune system, which is a vital, active component of the human organism. The innate immune system in humans is more ancient and rooted in evolution than the adaptive immune system. The body is protected by the innate immune system from diseases like bacterial infections (some examples are bubonic plague, smallpox, strep, and E. coli). Only 1% of bacteria are hazardous, yet those that are can cause serious damage to the human body. Antibodies are able to track down and eliminate specific infections that they have previously encountered thanks to the adaptive immune system. The immune system and the body both continuously adapt to new pathogen strains that develop throughout time. The innate and adaptive immune systems are intertwined and cooperate to assist the body fend off illness or detrimental environmental impacts, according to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare (IQWiG).
The immune system’s job is to shield the body against hazardous external bacteria, viruses, and parasites that could have an adverse effect on one’s health and well-being. It discovers harmful intruders and works to eliminate them as rapidly as possible. Its main targets are infections and acquired illnesses. Immunis, which translates from Latin as “exempt” or “free,” emphasises the immune system’s function as a defender and watchdog of the body’s health. The basic building blocks of the human body, such as proteins and cells, are also used to construct the immune system. Because they assist in regulating, metabolising, and dispersing the nutrients and energy sources consumed by the body, human organs are a crucial component of the immune system. As a necessary survival mechanism, the immune system of humans enables the body to recognise and eliminate pathogenic intruders in order to fend against disease or the negative impacts of hazardous environmental agents.
According to theIQWiG, the human immune system is responsible for a variety of functions. The following are these tasks:
identifying microorganisms and dangerous environmental elements
neutralisation of dangerous environmental pollutants and pathogens (fungi, parasites, viruses, or bacteria)
battling disease-related changes in the body’s weakened cells
The immune system’s ability to identify potentially harmful infections or cells that could endanger human health is one of its most important functions. Antigens, which are proteins on pathogens’ outer surfaces, trigger the immune system. The immune system’s defence cells contain receptors that have memory capabilities and can quickly recognise pathogens they have before encountered, accelerating the body’s defence systems.
The Endocannabinoid System: What Is It?
The neurological system and the immune system are two internal bodily systems that are a part of the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system acts as a link between the physical human body and the human intellect, as noted by Bradley E. Alger, Ph. D. Raphael Mechoulam, Ph.D., an Israeli academic, organic chemist, and researcher, who identified the endocannabinoid system. The ECS collaborates with the immune system to balance the body’s response to infections, reducing the body’s vulnerability to autoimmune disorders. This is advantageous for persons who experience autoimmune illnesses.
How Does the Immune System React to Medical Cannabis?
Through the reduction of the human immunological response, medical cannabis can have an impact on the immune system. Repressing the immune system is essential for some individuals, such as those with autoimmune illnesses, to survive. Autoimmune illnesses are those in which the body is attacked by the immune system and include the following:
Addison’s illness
AIDS/HIV
Hepatitis, hemolytic anaemia, neutropenia, autoimmune cerebellar degeneration, and peripheral neuropathies
Cancer
Celiac illness
Polyneuropathy with Chronic Inflammation and Demyelination (CIDP)
Crohn’s illness
With Late Age Onset Polyneuropathy and Gait Ataxia (GALOP)
Graves’ illness
Guillain-Barre disease
thyroiditis with Hashimoto’s
Thrombocytopenia purpura immune (ITP)
Myasthenic Lambert-Eaton Syndrome
Lupus
a number of sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis
Opsoclonus/Myoclonus (Anti-Ri)
Rheumatic Polymyalgia (large muscle groups)
encephalitis caused by Rasmussen
Raynaud’s syndrome
arthritis rheumatoid
Scleroderma
Bubble boy disease, also known as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID),
Sjogren’s disorder (salivary glands, tear glands, joints)
Syndrome of the Stiff Person
Giant Cell Arteritis with Temporal Arteritis
acquired immune weaknesses that are momentary (may be caused by medication or chemotherapy)
HTLV-1 Associated Tropical Spastic Paraperesis Myelopathy (TSP/HAM)
diabetes type 1
inflammatory colitis
Certain amounts of medical cannabis may aid patients with these ailments by reducing inflammation brought on by autoimmune diseases. In fact, the body’s natural cannabinoids aid in the fight against illness and improve overall health.
Certain phytocannabinoids may work with the immune system and ECS to lessen the impact of autoimmune disorders and improve overall health. Although there is still much to learn about how medicinal marijuana affects the human immune system, recent research findings are encouraging and could have a significant impact on future medications and treatment plans for a wide range of autoimmune illnesses.
