Medical cannabis advocate excited about research for COVID treatment
Published:Friday | February 4, 2022 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH STUDIES ongoing into the possible use of hemp proteins as a means of fighting the COVID-19 virus, Diane Scott, the chief executive officer of the Jamaican Medical Cannabis Corporation group (JMCC), is voicing support for the potential role of nutraceutical health in treating the disease.
She was speaking to The Gleaner on Wednesday following the Ministry of Health and Wellness’s official opening of the Savanna-la-Mar Public Hospital’s new field hospital in Westmoreland, for which her company was a donor to the construction project. The field hospital, built at a cost of $35.4 million, has a capacity of 50 bed spaces for COVID-19 patients.
“I think any advancement of medical cannabis used in treating new conditions is exciting, and certainly there is a great deal of research for using medical cannabis in areas of paediatric and adult epilepsy, oncology, pain management, anxiety and multiple sclerosis. So it is just natural to think that there would be a benefit for COVID-19, and to now receive research that proves it is, or is working to prove it, is very exciting,” said Scott.
“I believe very much that nutraceuticals play a very important role in the future of medicine. COVID obviously is a very serious condition that we have to find ways to treat and I am excited to think that medical cannabis would be able to do that in the future,” Scott added.
Her declaration came one week after consultant physician and biomedical researcher, Professor Errol Morrison, voiced certainty that two compounds found in hemp – cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) and cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) – could block COVID-19 from entering human cells.
A research team at the United States-based Oregon State University conducted a study in early January, during which they tested whether any compounds within different extracts from natural products would stick to the spike proteins on the COVID-19 virus. The team’s findings, including the discovery that CBDA and CBGA stuck to the virus’ spike proteins, were published in the Journal of Natural Products on January 10.
However, Scott suggested that nutraceutical health, which involves using natural foods and herbs to treat disease, should be twinned with the COVID-19 vaccine, as opposed to being a superior option on its own.
“I would not necessarily say that it (nutraceutical treatment) is superior, and I think you need to look at these things in concert with each other. In combination with vaccines, we hope that someday we will be able to show that medical cannabis can help the condition as patients are experiencing COVID,” said Scott.
Jamaica’s health authorities have previously downplayed herbal treatments as an alternative to vaccination. In January 2021, Dr Melody Ennis, the Ministry of Health’s director of family services, said that there is no evidence in support of natural remedies being superior to COVID-19 vaccines.
However, nutraceutical proponents have argued that the health authorities should present the use of natural remedies as a viable option to treat COVID-19, so that people can have a variety of choices for their own treatment rather than relying solely on vaccines.
The leaders of the Scotts Hall and Charles Town Maroon communities voiced similar sentiments in support of natural remedies in May 2020, with Colonel Marcia Douglas of the Charles Town Maroons pointing to plants such as dandelion, avocado, garlic and citrus fruits, as well as extracts from bushes and herbs, as means of strengthening the body’s immune system to fight disease.