Brace yourself, that annoying friend of yours that swears that weed is the cure for “everything,” has just been dropped a whole new talking point. A new laboratory study conducted by researchers from Oregon State University (Oregon > Weed Study > Obvi) found that certain cannabis compounds can actually prevent the virus that causes Covid-19 from penetrating healthy human cells and causing infection. No, despite what your friend thinks, that doesn’t mean that if you smoke weed you’ll have a smaller chance of catching Covid, no matter how much weed you smoke!
In fact, you don’t even need to get high.
Bloomberg reports that the new study — which was published in the Journal of Nature Products — found that two compounds commonly found in hemp were identified as having the potential (keyword here) to combat coronavirus by binding to the spike proteins on the virus and blocking a step that the pathogen uses to infect people and have shown promise in tests against the alpha and beta variants of the virus.
According to the study, “Cannabigerolic acid, and cannabidiolic acid were equally effective against the SARS-CoV-2 alpha variant and beta variant. Orally bioavailable and with a long history of safe human use, these cannabinoids isolated or in hemp extracts, have the potential to prevent as well as treat infections by SARS-CoV-2.”
Word! It should be noted that this study was a laboratory test, which means the study didn’t actually involve giving any supplements or extracts to actual people, nor did it compare the infection rates of those exposed to the cannabinoids and those who weren’t. It’s still wild to think that in the future we might have a hemp-based treatment for Covid-19, but again Kevin, that doesn’t mean you can smoke more weed instead of wearing a damn mask.
Still, your stoney friends were right about this: Marijuana truly seems to be “medicine!”