Medical Cannabis Q&A
What is cannabis?
Cannabis is a plant and drug that is thought to pre-date humans. Fossilised pollen indicates that cannabis evolved around 20–25 million years ago after diverging from its closest plant relative Humulus (or hops) around 27.8 million years ago.
Is cannabis addictive?
According to the NHS, 10% of regular cannabis users become dependent upon the substance. This risk of dependency is believed to be higher if you begin cannabis use in your teenage years or use cannabis every day.
Like other drugs, you can also develop a tolerance to cannabis, meaning that higher quantities of the substance may be eventually required by users to garner the same effects they originally felt when they were cannabis naïve.
How does cannabis consumption affect the body?
The consumption of cannabis affects the body’s endocannabinoid system. Put very simply, the endocannabinoid system acts like a modulator of the release of other neurotransmitters in the body.
The endocannabinoid system seems to have very far-reaching effects. This is unsurprising given the substantial distribution of cannabinoid receptors throughout the body. The endocannabinoid system is thought to influence bodily functions such as: memory, pain modulation, sleep, appetite, the stress-response and the action of the reproductive systems.
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