Despite the fact that there are still many taboos, myths and fears regarding cannabis medicine, it is an aid in the treatment of various ailments and conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, migraine, stress, autism and epilepsy, said doctor Mirna Flores Meza, president of the Mexican Academy of Cannabis Medicine (Amedcann).
Announcing the First International Congress of Endocannabinology and Regenerative Medicine for Physicians and Health Professionals, which will bring together more than 20 specialists from Mexico, Colombia, Panama and the United States, he assured that more and more specialists are interested in this discipline and called to “break taboos” related, for example, to the possibility of becoming dependent on these substances.
He explained that at the meeting (May 19 and 20 at the UNAM School of Medicine Palace in the Historic Center) it will be shown that “cannabis medicine is helpful, it is ancestral, it promotes the proper functioning of the body and makes it regulate its functions”.
The intention, he explained, is to make “professional use of cannabis medicine” and asserted that the meeting has the “endorsement of the medical school of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN)”. In fact, one of the speakers will be Dr. Salvador Lara Franco, director of the Higher School of Medicine of this institute.
The specialist will address the perspectives of cannabis medicine in Mexico, the immunopathology of covid-19, the use of phytocannabinoids, advances in the development of new strains of cannabis, and its importance in the medical sector and the neuroprotective effect of cannabinoids in neurodegenerative diseases.
Flores Meza explained that the endocannabinoid system has receptors and that this is how cannabis substances work, and he exemplified it with people who suffer from arthritis: “In our joints we have receptors for cannabis medicine to enter; It goes directly to the joints, pain is no longer felt and mobility increases, as well as helping to reduce depression in rheumatic patients”.
He insisted on the urgency of demolishing “myths” that with the use of cannabis medicine someone can become addicted and criticized the criminalization of those who consume these substances.
He highlighted that the plant has flavonoids, substances with anti-inflammatory properties, and that CBG or cannabigerol, which does not have psychoactive properties, helps reduce the interocular pressure generated by glaucoma, while the cannabinoid CBN helps to fall asleep.
Cannabis medicine can treat “epilepsy, metabolic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, as well as Crohn’s disease (an autoimmune condition), autism, anxiety and gynecological conditions such as endometriosis. There are also cannabis nutritionists, cannabis psychologists and cannabis cardiologists.”
