Your Endocannabinoid System: What It Is, How It Works, and What It Means For YOU
By Cynthia Saarie
There are lots of different opinions on cannabis and hemp and its relationship to us in our endocrine systems today. What most don’t know or understand is how closely cannabis and the cannabinoids held within the plant systems are related to our own bodies. Uncovering the various ways it works to help our health and the interaction with our human health system by integrating the active enzymes within these plants to work in conjunction with life as we know it is our topic for today.
Until 1937, civilizations continued to use cannabis and hemp plants to help heal and restore our bodies. For millennia, these plants have had favorable and proven relief documented to help us maintain health. Then the Government stepped in.
Why?
Think about it… pharmaceutical businesses would take a huge hit financially if we stopped needing all the medicines they pump into us daily to barely maintain health. What if we no longer required medicines to help us with Parkinson’s or Huntington’s diseases – or Alzheimer’s disease – to relieve migraines and joint pain?
Lobbyists for the pharma community work tirelessly to tell us, “This little pill is all you need!” Imagine what chaos would happen and the financial fortunes that would be lost.
(I can say this with total confidence because I own several pharmaceutical stocks, and have for years, and know my money would take a hit, too.)
I went online to gather information on our human Endocannabinoid System and found the UK had a great article on ECS in the National Library of Medicine.
The Big Picture in a Nutshell
Quotes taken from Stephen D. Skaper and Vincenzo Di Marzo
“The psychoactive component of the cannabis resin and flowers, delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), was first isolated in 1964, and at least 70 other structurally related ‘phytocannabinoid’ compounds have since been identified. The serendipitous identification of a G-protein-coupled cannabinoid receptor at which THC is active in the brain heralded an explosion in cannabinoid research. Elements of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) comprise the cannabinoid receptors, a family of nascent lipid ligands, the ‘endocannabinoids,’ and the machinery for their biosynthesis and metabolism. The function of the ECS is thus defined by the modulation of these receptors, in particular, by two of the best-described ligands, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol and anandamide (arachidonylethanolamide).
_Research on the ECS has recently aroused enormous interest not only for the physiological functions but also for the promising therapeutic potentials of drugs interfering with the activity of cannabinoid receptors.”
What’s all that Gobbledygook Mean?
If you’re no more a scientist or doctor of endocrinology than I am, you probably read their introduction and thought, WTF does that mean? Let me try to break it down to a level I could better understand…
Cannabis and hemp plants contain many different cannabinoids. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA (https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana), “Cannabis contains more than 100 compounds or cannabinoids in the flowers, stems, leaves, and seeds of these plants. The main cannabinoid, THC (delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol), has mind-altering abilities, and CBD (cannabidiol) is not impairing, which is another way of saying it doesn’t make you high.
Cannabis and hemp plants both contain enzymes that contain THC, but unlike cannabis plants, hemp plants only contain minute particles of THC.
Caution is required if you work in a governmental position… CBD plants still contain SOME THC in the plant material and will show up on a drug test, so beware.
When I worked at the Postal Service and because it is a Federally controlled agency, I didn’t use either cannabis or CBD hemp plants. EVER. I didn’t want to risk my former job.
Where Cannabis Fits In
Cannabis plants were first used medicinally and agriculturally, and also in spiritual rituals, as far back as 6,000 BC. Textiles were made from hemp plants, as recorded in 4,000 BC in China. Whether ground up in foods, tinctures, or textiles… these plants have been a part of societal need and therapeutic benefit for a long time.
Recorded history in India and the Native American cultures mention the sacred ritual usage. But it wasn’t until 1964 that the first scientists realized and identified the sympatico functions cannabis had on the endocrine system in our bodies and the 70 plus other structurally related Phytocannabinoid compounds. (The most abundant phytocannabinoids found in the cannabis plant are Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), THC being the psychoactive enzyme.)
THC and the serendipitous identification of a G-protein paired with a cannabinoid receptor in our body gave this compound an active brain receptor explosion in scientific proof of the brain’s influential synaptic function benefits we need to know about today. Our nervous system is targeted with therapeutic benefits.
Cardiovascular disease rates have increased dramatically in the last four decades, and cancer deaths continue to rise each year. One of the remaining systems that loom even larger than those in our nervous system is the diseases that affect our brains and the interest in cannabinoids on our cellular and molecular illnesses.
These developments in scientific studies are timely and hold promise to further understand our cognitive development, our anxiety levels, and our brain aging. Endocannabinoids are released by cell stress and physiologically appear to be immuno-modulatory, or in other words, are released when we face stress to relieve these basic mental illnesses. Biologists are discovering the many ways cannabinoids assist and are associated with stress management and metabolic healing.
Inflammation and Pain Management:
Intense or noxious stimuli, aka high-threshold pain sensory neurons in a brain, contain a transfer of actions receptive to the spinal cord and other nerve injury mechanisms in a body. Chronic and neuropathic pain, as felt in a migraine, can persist for months if not identified where the pain has originated and treated. Patients receiving endocannabinoid treatments have shown more than 50% pain relief during treatment when enzymes that regulate metabolism are added. Did someone say munchies?
Chronic pain data suggests that the potential therapeutic effects of endocannabinoids can help healing and neuron stimulation for brain injuries and become a key player in muscular tremors associated with Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s diseases. This also includes pain management and regenerative healing for cancer patients processing pain levels that before were not met. The idea that these plants were outlawed because of company greed sickens me.
What if a drink or edible THC product could have helped encourage appetite for the cancer patient who has lost weight from fighting a battle that could be controlled? Or maybe, in part, helped heal a debilitating disease. Cancer pain and arthritis receptors are modulated with the simple act of smoking a joint.
To think this is all a known commodity and has had proven results throughout history and has been kept from the masses because of he who holds the most money wins… Disgusting.
How Endocannabinoids Have Therapeutic Benefits
Three natural medicines activate cannabinoid receptors in the human body: Cesamet, Marinol, and Sativex, all found in cannabis plants. These can be prescribed for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, stimulation of appetite, and symptomatic relief of cancer pain and/or spasticity in adults with multiple sclerosis (uncontrolled muscle spasms.) They also have proven effective for headache pain, epilepsy, anxiety, PTSD, depression, ALS (aka Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) stoke, cancer, heroin drug dependence, glaucoma, autoimmune uveitis, osteoporosis, sepsis, hepatic, renal, intestinal, and cardiovascular disorders.
Potential strategies for improving efficacy involve targeting cannabinoid receptors located outside the blood-brain barrier, targeting cannabinoid receptors expressed by a particular tissue, selectively targeting upregulated cannabinoid receptors, and multi-targeting in limiting the adverse effects of the disease.
Indeed, for many people and patients, their advocates, and family members subjected to the never-ending pain cycle, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. We need more trials for these enzymes, which have been proven to work with our bodies. There is a clear need for more clinical trials and a strategy that would most likely produce the greatest benefit-to-risk ratio in patients. CBD and THC are the main phytocannabinoids present in the cannabis sativa plant, constituting up to 40% of its extract.
What are the chances we will see these studies expanded for use in our medical establishments? Will these enzymes be promoted in the never-ending strife of patients who suffer needlessly daily? Will the stigma of cannabis consumption overpower the nay-sayers who side with the pharma control freaks? I don’t know; I can only tell you what I’ve found and also let you know that if there is anyone I know who is suffering, I’m going to bring them some special brownies.
Citation: Link to the National Library of Medicine – UK — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481537/
